Limbo
by Ukiyo-e
Summary: Ino's got a lot on her plate these days, a new job with the ANBU Interrogation Squad, new friends, and a certain senbon-sucking jounin she can't seem to get out of her head. Genma/Ino, Raidou/Yuugao, Ibiki/Shizune, Aoba/Anko. Adult Content Warning.
1. Prologue: The Interrogation Room

**Limbo**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto._

_Author's Notes: This is an Ino centric fic which will quickly part ways with canon (obviously), since I have taken liberties with the Yamanaka family jutsu's and Ino's future as a shinobi. It's also another Ino & Genma fic, so you've been warned._

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_1:40 am...Konohagakure no Sato, Tuesday._

The room was so white and bright as to almost be blinding. It had a sterile and antiseptic feel to it, with its white enameled walls and linoleum floor the color of dirty snow. There were a few rusty maroon stains in the chipped and dirty floor from old blood that had worked its way down into the cracks and divots, stains the hose couldn't wash away anymore. It was a room with no windows and a drain in the center of the floor. There was only one door, and only one man with absolute authority over what went on in this forgotten room.

Morino Ibiki was not the kind of man you wanted to fuck around with. The head of the ANBU's Interrogation Squad was the best in the business and very, very good at his job. He'd seen the toughest shinobi crack like eggshells under his methods. Ready to sell out their villages, their leaders, their very souls to be spared the realms of pain that Ibiki could dream up.

Occasionally, a shinobi may catch him by surprise and take his (or her - it had happened before) life before telling him what he wanted to know. Even more rarely he would come across a shinobi that truly possessed an unusually strong will or threshold for pain.

The bloodied and battered shinobi currently huddled in the middle of the ANBU Interrogation Room was unfortunately one of those latter types.

Ibiki's ANBU squad had captured the ninja earlier that night as he'd fled west out of Konoha. He wasn't a Leaf shinobi, and his hitai-ate bore an unfamiliar mark. He'd been seen skulking around near the center of Konoha, but no intelligence had been found on him. Ibiki wasn't sure what irritated him more, that the man had been discovered in Konoha before leading them on a merry chase, or that he'd gotten _into_ Konoha in the first place. Either way, it had put him in a foul mood which was unfortunate for the poor captured ninja. He'd used him as stress relief.

Ibiki's scarred face never changed expression as he watched the unnamed shinobi flop over onto his side and retch. His breathing harsh and labored from the beatings he'd received. The two ANBU guards that bookended the doors were as still as statues behind their white and red masks as they watched.

"We can do this all night, it's up to you," Ibiki told the man conversationally, his voice deceptively smooth and friendly, totally at odds with his threatening appearance and stone like fists. "Name. Rank. Affiliation."

The shinobi cast a wary look over his shoulder, eyes narrowing. His blue-black hair fell in long sweaty hanks covering most of his face. He was tall and wiry with a fairly nasty scar that pulled one corner of his mouth into a sort of grimace. He'd been wearing a mask under his tall collared flak jacket when they found him, but along with disarming him they'd also stripped him down to just his mesh undershirt and pants, his hands and arms bare. Standard procedure. Ibiki had ordered that the bandages he'd wrapped his legs and arms with to be removed as well, he'd seen shinobi use them to commit suicide before, and he wasn't letting this ninja die before he got some answers.

"Go fuck yourself," the man rasped. "You aren't getting shit out of me, you son of a bitch." The man hunched over, turning his upper body away from Ibiki and the two guards. Fearing he was making hand seals, one of the guards quickly cast a paralysis jutsu, but not before the prisoner had bitten through his wrists.

"Shit!" Ibiki hissed, jumping to quickly assess the wounds before the prisoner could bleed to death. The bites were bad, but not immediately critical and Ibiki applied pressure to try and slow the bleeding, his large hands all but encircling the lanky shinobi's wrists. He saw something out of the corner of his eye, and lunged back at the last second as the prisoner came at him with teeth bared, going for his throat. The ninja managed to get a hold of his ear and Ibiki grunted at the white hot pain as the man's teeth clipped the cartilage of his ear and hung on, dislodging his bandana hitai-ate.

"What the hell?" Ibiki snarled, his eyes rolling toward the guard who'd placed the paralysis jutsu.

"He's fighting it! I've never seen--" the guard yelled, his voice showing all the strain his ANBU mask hid.

In a blur of motion, suddenly the other guard was there behind the attacking prisoner and his hands shot out with two fingers extended to strike the man four times in four specific places, rendering him unconscious instantly. He slumped to the ground as his lax jaw released Ibiki's ear, and the scarred special jounin let him fall, his hands still staunching the blood flow on his wrists.

"Good work, Neji," Ibiki said quietly. Now that the prisoner was incapacitated he could address the other two by name. Tsuzumi tipped his ushi mask up to the top of his head and took over bandaging the prisoners wounds, mumbling an apology for his jutsu's failure. Tsuzumi was new to the Interrogation Unit, so Ibiki favored him with only a dismissive grunt.

The Hyuuga's pearly eyes flicked up to Ibiki as the older man stood at his side. His hands were already drenched in blood from the prisoner, yet he kept touching his bitten ear absently, making the wound look much worse than it was. Neji said nothing as he slid his tatsu mask back and waited for instructions.

"I think it might be time to take a different tactic with this one..." Ibiki said thoughtfully. "Where's Yamanaka?"

"Yamanaka-san is not on duty tonight, Morino-san," Sarugaku Tsuzumi told him, his first aid on the prisoner completed. "You gave her the night off to celebrate her promotion." Neji smirked inwardly already knowing what was coming even as Ibiki turned to him.

"Go find her."

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_To be continued..._


	2. Genma's Birthday and Playing Ninja

**Limbo**

_Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto. If I did Genma would be in it a heck of a lot more...so would Ino. _

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_Several hours earlier...Sano Bar, Konoha._

The bar was noisy and crowded, even without the group of jounin, special jounin, and chuunin crammed into the big booth at the back. They'd dragged an extra table up too to accommodate even more bodies. It was Genma's birthday, which one he wasn't divulging, but Raidou and Kakashi knew and they had been lording the knowledge over him for at least a bottle and a half of shochu already. Shinobi need very little excuse to cut loose when off-duty.

The youngest member of current and former assembled ANBU members was presently squeezed in between the birthday boy Genma, and Iruka at the very back of the U-shaped booth. Ino hadn't said much all evening, still a little too intimidated by the sudden change in relationship of most of the ninja gathered from her sensei's to colleagues, so she'd simply sipped the shots of shochu Genma'd given her, tried not to scratch the newly bandaged tattoo on her shoulder, and not make too big of an ass out of herself. So far so good.

She felt the brush of Kakashi's fingers bump against her fresh tattoo as he slung his arm around Iruka who was next to her, the contact making the sore flesh sizzle. She brought her fingers up to rub it without thinking, only to have Genma suddenly wrap his arm around her shoulders, covering the hidden bandage and mark of her new affiliation with his large hand. She pulled in a surprised breath, her new assignment to Morino-san's special ANBU squad wasn't really supposed to be general knowledge yet. While she wasn't the youngest ANBU member ever, Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi held those honors, at almost nineteen she was the youngest to be personally taken under Morino Ibiki's wing. Many in the squad going so far as to call her his pet protégé behind her back.

"Let it alone," Genma said around his senbon, his deep voice low in her ear. "It'll heal faster if you don't pick at it." Ino looked up at the bandana'd special jounin and gave him a nervous smile. Leave it to Genma to already know about it.

The last three years had seen her moving farther and farther away from the Rookie Nine she'd originally been a part of. She'd never been a very important genin, and it really hadn't been until Tsunade found out that Inoichi had finally trained Ino --the last of her clan-- in the most advanced and secret of the Yamanaka family jutsu's that her career as a shinobi started to take off. Not long after that the nature of Ino's missions had begun to change, they started with low level espionage and reconnaissance and before long she had found herself transferred to and swept up by Ibiki and then the ANBU. The nature of the work had matured her fast, it was hard to stay a naive, brassy girl when she was being taught to torture, lie and kill. She still saw her former teammates frequently; Shikamaru, still a full-time Academy sensei, and Chouji, who was going to be a proctor for the next chuunin exam, as well as Sakura and the others, but she didn't have much in common with them anymore. Oddly enough, only Neji.

She'd been surprised by how quickly she'd fallen into new friendships with some of the older chuunin and jounin that were either current or former ANBU members. Uzuki Yuugao had been especially kind in helping her acclimate to a new team and a new way of doing things. Ino looked up to the violet-haired kunoichi very much. It was through Yuugao that she had become acquainted with Yuugao's boyfriend Namiashi Raidou, and his best friend Shiranui Genma. Ino knew who the older jounin were, Genma had been the examiner during the chuunin exam that Sound and Sand had invaded at six years before, and she'd seen them both around the village many times. They were almost legends, not in the way that Kakashi was famous, but in the way they seemed almost indestructible. They came in wounded from missions often, but considering the level of those missions they went on and their age, they still seemed rather blessed with good luck.

Ino thought it was nice how quickly they had warmed up to her and included her. Yuugao and Raidou often treating her like a younger sister whenever they invited her along to go out to dinner or to have some drinks with them. Genma treated her like a younger sister too...most of the time.

Genma moved his arm from around her shoulders to drape across the back of the booth. She could feel him there if she leaned too far back, so she held herself strangely rigid, feeling oh so out of her element with these people, no matter how friendly they were. Or maybe it was just Genma.

"Yo! Birthday boy," Asuma bellowed from the other end of the long table, his lit cigarette wagging up and down between his grinning lips. "You gonna hog those bottles all fucking night, or what?" He waved his shot glass meaningfully toward the cluster of shochu bottles in front of Genma. At his side Kurenai gave an amused smile at his antics.

"Asuma-san! You should _watch your_ _language!_ There are ladies present and you wouldn't want to offend their delicate youthful sensibilities!" Gai proclaimed loftily before striking a modified good-guy pose for the few ladies present at the table. Anko looked appalled, and from next to Ino, Iruka broke down into giggles at the sight of Gai's posing. Ino tried not to look at him too much, it was just too strange watching her old Academy sensei get plastered and all kissy cozy with Kakashi.

"Shut the fuck up, Gai!" Raidou called out good-naturedly, then grabbed one of the bottles and passed it down toward Asuma, Kurenai and Anko at the end of the table. "Genma, open your damn present already," Raidou told him, tossing a small wrapped package his way. Genma grinned around his senbon and poured another round for those sitting closest to him; Ino, Raidou, and Yuugao, before dropping the package into Ino's lap.

"Open that for me, willya?" Genma drawled, drinking his shot. Ino slid him a sidelong glance, before lowering her head to unwrap the small package, tucking a lock of her loose chin length hair behind her ear.

"Lazyass..." she muttered under her breath. Though really, nobody could compare to Shikamaru when it came to minimum effort in life expended, but it was the principal of the thing. Genma moved the arm behind her forward, reaching out with his fingertips to brush against the nape of her neck lightly, almost a ghost of a touch, but she noticed.

"Pacing myself. Evening's still young," Genma replied for her ears only.

Ino tore open a corner of the wrapping paper and immediately started to blush as she saw the familiar bright orange cover of Jiraiya's latest contribution to adult entertainment, _'Icha Icha Paragon' . _"Yay, smut..." she deadpanned, trying to hide her embarrassment. The comment drew Kakashi's attention though, as did the bright orange cover and he leaned over Iruka for a better look.

"_Icha Icha Paragon?_ That's not supposed to be out for another week," Kakashi said excitedly, reaching to pluck the book out of Ino's hands. She instinctively clutched it to her chest, since it was Genma's gift and leaned away, trying to get out of range. "Where'd you get that Raidou, you sneaky bastard?"

"Bribed Jiraiya-sama with a picture of Yuu-chan in a bikini," Raidou replied smugly, earning himself a dark look from his ANBU girlfriend.

Ino was finding herself about spot welded to Genma's side as she crowded against him to get away from Kakashi who was nearly pushing Iruka on top of her as he leaned over. "Just let me see it for a second, Ino-chan," Kakashi wheedled, his one visible eye curved in that engaging manner he had.

"No!" Ino said stubbornly, "It's Genma-san's present!" She propped an arm against Iruka's shoulder, trying to brace him up so he didn't wind up sprawled on top of her, while she held the _Icha Icha_ over her head, out of reach of Kakashi's questing fingers. Iruka gave a strangled squawk as he found himself sandwiched squarely between Kakashi's muscled chest and thighs, and Ino's bony elbows and knees.

"'Kashi! Git offa me!" Iruka groaned.

Always helpful, Genma chose that moment to casually lean back in the booth, removing Ino's vertical support. The three of them, Ino, Iruka, and Kakashi, all came toppling down backwards like dominoes. Ino on the bottom, sprawled out over Genma's lap, Iruka next, as he flopped over her lower body, and then Kakashi, grinning like mad and still after his prize as he crawled bodily over Ino and Iruka. Genma plucked the book nimbly from Ino's grasp before Kakashi could grab it, and flipped it over to Raidou with a smirk.

"Oi!" Raidou yelled, getting Anko's attention before he tossed the volume down to her. Kakashi tracking its progress like a cat with a mouse. He was coiled to spring, perched on top of Iruka as Anko looked left and right, trying to decide whether to toss the book back to Raidou or over to Asuma. Kakashi launched himself across the table like a panther and Anko made her decision, all but flinging the book at Gai instead.

The Green Beast hadn't been paying that close of attention to the goings on at the other end of the table, so confusion clouded his face as the orange book in question smacked him in the chest. His eyes widened though as he looked up to see his Eternal Rival flying across the table at him in mid pounce. Kakashi landed squarely on Gai, knocking them both backwards from the end of the table to sprawl on the floor in a heap. Kakashi snatched the book away from Gai and beat a hasty retreat while Gai bellowed his indignity and gave chase, much to the amusement of the rest of the table.

Iruka pulled himself up off of Ino with a muttered apology, one hand to his throbbing head. "Che...you know those books of Jiraiya's make him act like a total lunatic," he scolded, sliding out of the booth to go after Kakashi. "You guys can be such _dicks_!" Iruka told the laughing Raidou and Genma with a mock serious scowl.

"We try," Raidou replied saluting him with his shot glass when Iruka flipped them off and then left. Still shaking his head.

Ino put more space between she and Genma as she untangled herself from his lap now that Iruka was gone, and she smoothed her ruffled hair and clothes self-consciously, hoping she wasn't as red in the face as she felt.

Yuugao smiled brightly from the other side of Raidou and handed Genma another book the same size and shape as the _'Icha Icha' _ one. The boring green cover on this book reading, _'Shore Birds of Sea Country'_ on it. Genma chuckled and flipped the book open, already knowing what was inside.

"Decoy... Nice," he said, then offered the book to Ino. "Wanna borrow it?" he teased with a wink. Ino was getting used to Genma's teasing and flirting with her, one moment treating her a bit like a kid, and the next acting like there was possibly something between them. It still made her hesitate though, like standing on shifting sand as she tried to figure out how she was supposed to respond to him. She wondered if she ever would.

"Genma, quit picking on her already," Raidou chided jokingly, "You're gonna break the poor kid, just look at her." Ino put her hand behind her head and laughed loudly, taking her cues from Yuugao as she giggled behind her hand, and Raidou as he laughed. She was grateful to the Raidou for the save, even if it meant being the butt of the joke.

_Some time later..._

After Kakashi and Iruka's hasty departure the party started winding down. Anko disappeared leaving Asuma complaining loudly over having to pay her share of the bill too. Once the tab was finally all settled and they stepped outside, Ino took a deep cleansing breath of the cool night air and tipped her head back to look at the stars. When she closed her eyes she could feel the slow, slow spin of the world, telling her she'd probably had a tiny bit too much to drink. Shaking her head to clear it, she stumbled a little, bumping into Asuma.

More than a little tanked himself, her old sensei pounded her on the back and then put his arm around her shoulders, whacking her right on her new tattoo. Just when she'd almost forgotten about it, making the soreness come alive. "One of my favorite students..." Asuma proclaimed loudly, thumping her sore arm again. Ino grimaced. "My little loudmouth...you could be such a great shinobi if you'd just spend as much time on your training as you do worrying about your hair or chasing boys. Better than Shikamaru even. Haven't I always said that about her?" he asked Kurenai, dragging Ino along with him as he joined her.

"You have," Kurenai sighed, humoring him.

Trying not to feel offended, Ino carefully extracted herself from her former sensei's grasp and nudged him in Kurenai's direction. Asuma kind of slumped against Kurenai with a crooked grin, his lit cigarette dangling from his lips. Kurenai rolled her eyes and held him up. "Come on you good for nothing, let's get you home," she said fondly. Raidou went around to Asuma's other side to help take the load off of Kurenai as they supported the bearded jounin. Yuugao followed along, walking backwards as she waved goodbye.

"I'll see you tommorrow, Ino-chan! G'night Genma-kun!" she called before the four of them continued down the darkened street.

"Later," Genma replied lazily.

She'd almost forgotten Genma was there. He had this singular talent of fading into the woodwork unless he wanted to be noticed, then the magnetic pull of him was almost overwhelming to her. She was tempted to ask if it was a genjutsu he was employing, but she suspected the truth was that it was just _him. _The way he was, captivatingly ordinary.

"I'll walk you home," Genma said at last, rolling his senbon to the other side of his mouth as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Ino plucked absently at the long sleeve of her bandaged arm, trying to keep from fussing at her sore tattoo.

"Don't have to," Ino shrugged, but then fell into step beside him anyway.

"I know it."

The chirping of crickets and the slight sound of their sandals scuffing the ground was the only thing disturbing the late night stillness as they walked. Ino tried hard not to scowl as she kept dwelling on Asuma's criticism hidden in a compliment. Compliment or not, it still rubbed at her. Why couldn't he see she'd changed? She was kind of a part of the ANBU now, for crying out loud, and yet her old sensei still treated her like she was some green genin teenybopper chasing after Sasuke. It wasn't fair. TenTen and Hinata didn't get such treatment from their sensei's.

"He didn't mean it, you know, not the way it sounded," Genma said quietly a few minutes later. He could practically hear Ino fuming next to him.

"Eh?" she queried with a lifted eyebrow,

"Asuma. He was just drunk. I've never heard him say anything negative like that about you or your old team before, he's always spoken very highly of you," Genma told her.

"I guess. I just...sometimes I wish..he, they..." Ino faltered as she tried to find the most diplomatic way to say what she meant without overreacting. Genma stayed silent and just watched her silent struggle with herself. "I mean, I'm not a stupid thirteen-year-old genin anymore!" she finally burst out, her hands fisted on her slim hips as she stopped walking abruptly.

"No," Genma agreed.

"I've worked _so hard_, Genma, to get where I am now. To be taken seriously," Ino fumed, warming to her argument. "But do they ever see it? Hell no! They just all gave me crap about my clothes being too skimpy for me to be a serious ninja. _Ha!_ Like what I wear has anything to do with how I fight! But I changed." She gestured viciously at her conservative outfit, a long-sleeved dark violet tunic and black pants edged with fishnet, her hitai-ate tied loosely around her waist. "They act like all I ever do is...is diet or chase guys! I don't see anyone ever giving Sakura a hard time, just cause she's Godaime-sama's favorite. It pisses me off!" Ino growled, punching the air in front of her briefly.

Genma rested his hand on top of her blonde head and the fight just evaporated out of her as she looked up at him. "Feel better now?" he asked, grinning around his senbon. Ino gave him a crooked almost sheepish grin in return as she blushed.

"Yeah, guess I just needed to vent. Sorry..." she mumbled. So much for not making an ass out of herself that evening.

"Doesn't bother me. I kinda like it when you're feisty and loud," he chuckled. "You remind me of someone..."

Genma snaked his arm around her neck to rest over her shoulders companionably as he guided her down the street with him. Ino was a very affectionate and open person herself with her closest friends, like Shikamaru and Chouji, so she kept reminding herself not to keep reading too much into Genma's casual touches. He was probably just more like her and needed human contact. Even surly stand-offish Shikamaru wanted hugs every once in a while.

"Gonna tell me who?" she finally worked up the nerve to ask. Hoping it was a good thing.

"Nope."

They came to the mouth of the long fenced alleyway that was a shortcut to her apartment building and Ino stopped, cocking her head to the side. Something wasn't quite right. Genma nudged her and she followed his lead immediately, ducking out of sight as they sent a couple of clones down the alley in their stead. Ino crouched at the corner, peeking around to watch the clones progress as she drew a kunai from her leg pouch. There was a genjutsu of some kind going on down toward the end of the alley, she could see it. Genma just leaned against the fence casually, arms folded over his chest and his eyes closed as he half smiled.

As Ino watched, the clones walked into the traps set at the mid point of the alley. It was quite spectacular really with smoke screens and flash tags. Their clones _poofed_ out of existence when a barrage of shuriken from the sprung traps hit them.

_Kakashi._

"Lame," Genma muttered at her side. Ino raised her arm to throw a kunai into the fray, but he stopped her. "Don't encourage him," he said, shaking his head. He picked up a broken piece of masonry from the head of the alley and hefted it in his hand, testing the weight of it. With a devious grin, Genma fished an exploding tag out of his pouch and fixed it on the bottom of the masonry then did a transformation on it so it looked like the _'Icha Icha Paragon'_' book before lobbing it down into the alley. Ino gaped.

"That's encouraging him!" Ino pointed out accusingly. Several seconds later a small explosion sent up a cloud of dust and stone chips. "What the hell!" she hissed, "you two are gonna wake up the whole neighborh_uh--!_" Ino huffed out the rest of the sentence as an surprised squeak when Genma scooped her up and in two leaps carried them to a nearby roof overlooking the alley, several kunai burying themselves in the dirt where they'd just been standing.

"--neighborhood," Ino finished dumbly as he set her down. She should have been paying more attention. Genma was still grinning madly as he crouched on the roof, trying to figure out Kakashi's next move. He looked like he was having a ball. Ino just hoped he and Kakashi's fun wouldn't end up getting her kicked out of the neighborhood, she liked her little third floor apartment, and she looked over toward her building a half a block away with a wistful sigh.

Genma looked over his shoulder at her and held a finger to his smirking lips. With a quick tiger hand seal he did a _henge_ and transformed into Iruka. "I'm really going to mess with him now...wanna help?" Genma's deeper voice sounded strange coming out of Iruka's cheerful face.

"Sure," Ino replied, drawing the end of the word up like a question. Genma/Iruka stood and reached into his back pouch, drawing out the actual book that Kakashi wanted so badly and then handing it to her. He just wanted her to guard the book? "Oh the responsibility. How ever will I handle it?" Ino said sarcastically, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Her tone wasn't lost on Genma, and he gave her a knowing smirk that looked completely wrong on Iruka's face.

"Ah, but I'm counting on you to see through his little genjutsu tricks and watch my back," he told her as he turned to go. Ino reached out and caught his sleeve, turning him back around. She held her hand out palm up and pointed at his mouth.

"Senbon."

"See? That's why I need you," he drawled with a wink as he gave her the long senbon he always had between his teeth. Ino was glad it was a dark night, because she could feel her face heat up and her heart trip over itself. He was doing it to her again. Ever since the day she'd met the older jounin he'd had this effect on her. It was like taking every girlish crush she'd ever had and balling it up with a great big fat dose of adult lust. Genma was her friend. They were _just friends,_ she kept forcibly reminding herself. It didn't help much when he reached out and cupped her face in his warm palm briefly, running a calloused thumb over her cheekbone. The fact that he was still transformed to look like her old Academy sensei kept her from going totally weak in the knees. Because that thought was just kind of too _'eww'_ for her.

Ino sagged to sit on the rooftop with a heavy sigh after Genma vanished to cause more mischief. She propped her elbow on her knee and rested her chin in her hand as the faint metallic clinks of shuriken striking shuriken drifted up to her from the alley below. With the way they were carrying on it was a surprise the night patrol hadn't come by to break it up yet.

She remembered back when she became a genin and being a shinobi was all serious business, all the time. They would never dream of doing anything as childish as ambushing each other or setting pit traps in the middle of the village as a game. She'd learned later from people like Yuugao, Raidou, and Genma that the longer you were a shinobi, --the more dangerous missions you went on--, the more outlets for stress you needed to find. Ino knew Genma and Kakashi were just blowing off steam, but it was mildly ironic to her that two of the most experienced jounin in Konoha were acting like a couple of little kids playing ninja, stalking each other around a dark alley over some smut. And not even that great of smut either, she thought as she tucked Genma's senbon behind her ear and flipped the book in question open. She couldn't see too much in the diffused moonlight, but she'd seen some of Jiraiya's earlier work before and honestly, she didn't really see what all the fuss was about.

Maybe it just had a really fabulous plot.

"Why, Yamanaka Ino...whatever are you looking at, you naughty girl?" a familiar deep voice purred teasingly right into the shell of her ear.

Ino whipped her head to the side to see Genma hanging right over her shoulder, a lecherous grin pasted on his handsome face. She could feel the heat of him almost against her back and she didn't even hesitate, just rolled away from him and then hopped back out of range in a small burst of chakra. Letting loose towards his leering head with a couple of kunai for good measure, before she reached up and touched the senbon tucked behind her ear, just to be sure. Genma caught the kunai easily as he stood up, twirling them on his fingers as he rolled the senbon in his mouth to the other side.

"Told you she wouldn't fall for it, 'Kashi...you lose," Genma _-the real one-_ said with a chuckle as he stepped out of the shadows behind Ino. Kakashi released the _henge_ of Genma and smiled, his one visible eye crinkling.

"So you did. What gave me away?" Kakashi asked lightly, handing the kunai back to the furious Ino.

"What _didn't _give you away? You pervert!" she yelled, one fist raised and ready to do damage. Embarrassed that she'd let Kakashi sneak up on her, that was twice tonight that she'd been careless and distracted because of her thoughts. And twice that something Genma had said --and for a half of a heartbeat she had been fooled-- made all the blood rush to her face. She _hated_ being embarrassed.

Kakashi held up both hands placatingly as he smiled at her. "No harm done, no hard feelings, Ino-chan?" he asked. Ino was sorely tempted to take Genma's long senbon from behind her ear and try some target practice on the Copy-nin with it, but Kakashi was too good. It would just be a waste of time and a perfectly good weapon. She folded her arms across her chest while still hanging on to the _'Icha Icha'_ and sulked.

"Yeah, whatever," she muttered, her cheeks still burning. Genma bumped her elbow lightly with his before taking the '_Icha Icha'_ volume from her hand and tucking it back into his pouch.

"Feel up to another couple of rounds, Genma? Iruka's got beer at his place," Kakashi asked, then turned his smiling gaze to Ino. "You're more than welcome too, Ino-chan."

"I think Ino has another date already," Genma said quietly before she could answer. Ino followed his gaze to the silent figure standing at the high point of the roof behind Kakashi. His white and red mask almost glowing in the ambient light.

_Neji._

So much for having the night off.

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_AN: I am currently working on the next chapter and hope to have it finished soon. _

_Thanks always to Sedens for the proofing and putting up with me. _


	3. Time to get your feet wet

_Disclaimer: Naruto still is not mine._

_AN: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I actually found these scenes much harder to write than I thought they would be._

_Many thanks for the kind reviews, I hope you continue to enjoy the fic. I appreciate your feedback. _

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_2:10 am, Tuesday...ANBU Interrogation_

A yawning Shizune was just leaving the Interrogation Room after treating the wounded prisoner when Neji and Ino arrived on the scene. The dark haired medic-nin eyed Ibiki's torn ear sternly and forced the scarred man to sit so she could treat him.

"Really did a number on you, didn't he?" Shizune muttered rhetorically as she cleaned the wound to examine it. Mint green medical chakra began to glow around her hand as she reached to heal Ibiki's injury, but he caught her slender wrist between two fingers, stopping her.

"Just a bandage will be fine, Shizune-san," Ibiki told her quietly. "Don't waste the chakra on me."

"But..." Shizune sputtered, and Ibiki gave her a rare gentle grin.

"It's fine. I can't be too pretty after all, right?" he winked. Shizune held his gaze stubbornly, then relented with a small shake of her head and finished disinfecting and dressing his wound. It was going to leave a nasty scar if he didn't let her heal it, which offended the medic part of her that only wanted to help, but she could kind of see his point too, considering the deep ragged scars that bisected what would otherwise be a very handsome face. Shizune remembered that face before it had become scarred. Back when she and Ibiki were in the same Academy class, he'd turned the girls heads then. Even hers.

"I'm too tired to argue with you, Ibiki-kun," Shizune exhaled, wagging a long finger at him meaningfully. "But next time..." she let the threat hang. Ibiki smiled, lowering his head slightly as he closed his eyes and he made an amused sound deep in his throat. Shizune made threats when he could snap her like a twig, it never failed to amuse him.

"Yes, Shizu-chan," he said obediently. Shizune snorted at the use of her childhood nickname and whirled on her heel to make her exit past Neji and Ino. The Hyuuga looked as unapproachable as ever behind his ANBU mask, and the blonde was chewing her lower lip and looking at the ceiling to keep from smiling.

"Yamanaka," Ibiki said once Shizune was gone. "Have you been briefed on the situation?"

Ino was instantly all business, her pupilless blue eyes sharp. "Yes, _Tatsu-san_ filled me in on the way here," Ino replied. Ibiki nodded imperceptibly in approval at her referral to Neji by the mask style he wore and not his name while on duty and in uniform. Only he as commander would refer to them by name if the situation warranted.

Ibiki motioned subtly for Ino to follow him down the hall and she did, leaving Neji behind to guard the door. Ibiki took them around the corner to be well out of anyone's earshot, before turning back to the blonde. She stood comfortably at attention, showing not a trace of fatigue given the late hour.

"Godaime-sama has requested we meet with her later this morning regarding your transfer here," Ibiki said quietly without preamble. "She's fighting me on it, since she still wants you for intelligence missions."

"I thought this was a done deal?" Ino replied, touching her bandaged shoulder for emphasis.

"You're assigned to my Squad, which makes you ANBU technically, but I think Godaime-sama is having second thoughts now about making this a full-time assignment. Either way..." Ibiki trailed off, his sharp eyes watching his protégé to see if she caught his meaning. She didn't disappoint him, which is why he'd made the effort to get her assigned to his squad.

"It's in the Squad's best interest to have positive results to take to Godaime-sama today," Ino said simply.

"Time to get your feet wet here, I'm afraid. There's no time to ease you into things like I'd planned," Ibiki apologized. The blonde held her hands up and shrugged, a crooked grin on her beautiful face.

"No pressure then. This is what I'm here for, right?" Ino said casually. "So what are we after in there?"

"Everything."

Ino tilted her head to the side as she looked up to him. "What have you gotten out of him already?" she questioned warily, her brow creasing in concern.

"Nothing... Yet."

She looked older than her eighteen years when she looked at him like that. Ibiki could read people, he usually knew what they would say before they even said it. Ino was one of the few people that could occasionally still surprise him. She was like quicksilver, moody and devious. She was unpredictable in the fact that she often seemed to merely react without thought, but after training with her for several months Ibiki was finding that she wasn't as careless and impulsive as she appeared on the surface. She was resilient and flexible with good instincts. She'd had to be with some of the more unsavory tricks of the trade he'd taught her. He could see her working over the situation.

"So you're saying he's got a formidable will then," Ino mused, and then smiled. "No different than anything else, if he's got a good guard then I'll just have to get around it." Her eyes flashed as she thumped her fist into the palm of her other hand. Ibiki knew this look of hers too, Ino was nothing if not tenacious and she never stayed uncertain or hesitant for long.

Ibiki grunted non-committally in response. "Don't get too far ahead of yourself, Yamanaka. This is still my investigation and we're doing things my way. Got it?"

"Of course, sensei," Ino replied, instantly contrite. Her enthusiasm often still got away from her, but she was learning. Ibiki led her back down the hall, hiding the small smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. Outside the Interrogation Room he handed her a clipboard and pencil, his face once again set in stern, unforgiving lines.

"I want everything he says, and doesn't say. And don't get in my way once we're inside," Ibiki told her. Pleased with the way there was absolutely no confusion on her face as she grasped the implication of the clipboard and his statement. She was quick, that one.

"He'll never even know I'm there, sensei."

* * *

Ino had been inside many minds using her _Shintensen no jutsu_, in which her spiritual chakra took over the conscious of another, letting her see through their eyes. It was excellent for infiltration and spying missions, but for the kind of mental interrogations that Ibiki did normally, you couldn't pay her to be inside another's consciousness at the time.

No, for interrogation and information gathering Ino had a much better trick.

She sat quietly in a chair next to where Neji was guarding the door, her clipboard in her lap and watched the prisoner, biding her time. Shizune had obviously healed the most serious of his wounds, but she could still see the aftereffects of a beating. Using his fists wasn't usually Ibiki's style. The shinobi must have really pissed him off to get him to use him for a punching bag. Right now the unnamed shinobi's attention was on Ibiki, as the Interrogation specialist made himself comfortable in that ominously casual way that he had. Like you were just sitting down for a nice chat together and not about to be ending up in a fetal ball of drooling mental anguish. Sooner or later though he'd look at her, and when his eyes met hers...it'd be all over.

Ino didn't have to wait long before she saw the shinobi's narrow black eyes peeking out at her from the curtain of his lank hair. She gave him her best and most brilliant smile, holding his eyes with hers, she wasn't above using her good looks to keep the shinobi's attention on her face and not on the quick hand seals she made as she focused her chakra.

_'Shindoku-i no jutsu!' _she said silently in her mind.

Ino let her head fall back against the wall as the jutsu took effect, her eyes locked on the prisoner across the room. Like a radio trying to receive too many different stations at once Ino was initially bombarded by the overlapping thoughts of those closest around her, piling up like a jumble. It was overwhelming and she narrowed her eyes as she focused her chakra more, tuning in to the prisoner's thoughts alone and letting the hum of Neji's pragmatic thoughts about the security of the room, and Ibiki's darker thoughts as he began his first mental onslaught recede into the background.

She wanted to instinctively recoil from the raw fury and hatred of the shinobi's --_Chigumo...that's his name, Chigumo...--_ thoughts, like a bad taste in her mouth as they filled her head, and Ino took a deep breath through her nose as she tried to keep herself focused. It was intense, she was just eavesdropping, just listening in as Ibiki began his interrogation, but she could already feel the strain to her chakra.

"Rank. Affiliation," Ibiki growled, his voice coming to her like she was underwater. It was Chigumo's thoughts that were as clear as if he spoke them directly into her ear.

--_Chuunin of Sunagakure no sato once--_ Ino picked up the pencil and clipboard on her lap to write the information down, --_so sick of doing petty bullshit missions for that fucking freak--_ her hand a little shaky. Why was she shaking? She put the tip of the pencil to paper --_but now...we hit the big time on this one-- _and began to quickly transcribe Chigumo's thoughts, as oily and unpleasant as they were. _--No one's going to tell us what to do...and when I get out of here--_

"If you're not going to answer...believe me, I can _make_ you talk," Ibiki said and mentally applied the screws.

Ino winced involuntarily as Chigumo's mental groans of pain and the corresponding torrent of rage assaulted her as well, like someone shouting point blank in her ear. --_get out of here I am so going to fucking KILL you! I don't care what Bingo Book you're in you scarred motherfucker! Next time I won't miss! I'll kill all of you ANBU bastards--_

"I told you," Chigumo panted, baring his teeth at Ibiki. "You aren't going to get shit out of me. So either kill me or let me go, but stop wasting my fucking time." --_Like these assholes would let me go. Fuck bad luck getting nabbed before I could meet up with- Aaahhhhh!--_

Again Ino jerked in her chair from the force of Chigumo's mental screams, her hand coming up to touch her sweaty brow. She'd practiced this jutsu several times with Ibiki, she knew how to focus her chakra and how long she would be able to hold the jutsu normally --which wasn't very long--, but she didn't have the experience like her father did to withstand the backlash. When she'd trained it was to learn to tune into a specific person's thoughts, in those cases Ibiki's, but she'd never done this with a person undergoing a mental assault. It wasn't quite as painful as being inside their conscious during, but it was no fun either. It was starting to take a concentrated effort on her part to remain coordinated enough to scratch out her notes on the clipboard, and her hand still shook, making the pencil tip clatter against the paper repeatedly.

--_Ino-san? What--_

"Don't look at me!" she hissed under her breath when she felt Neji's thoughts start to focus on her. He was closest to her, and therefore the hardest for her to keep tuned out, especially at the rate she was burning through her chakra. Neji shifted his weight in silent understanding and in his mind began humming a tuneless melody like a meditation chant. "Thank you," she exhaled in a small burst of air.

"What is your objective for infiltrating Konoha?" Ibiki barked, and barely gave Chigumo time to form a coherent thought before he mentally attacked him again with more force than he had before. Chigumo's screams of agony, both mental and verbal were almost deafening in the small room and they hit Ino like an avalanche making her hiss in her breath sharply.

--_Gaaahhh! Stop! Fuck make it stop! Nothing is worth this-- _"Fuck you!" Chigumo spat out.

"What do you want with Konoha?" Ibiki demanded. applying even more mental force. Chigumo wailed, his bound hands clutching at his head and he bit his tongue until blood ran down his chin to keep from talking.

_--recruit...Honey daimyo...no more, can't take it...hurts too much-- _

"I want some answers!" Ibiki roared. He seemed to have almost forgotten about Ino and Neji being in the room. His whole focus was mentally breaking the shinobi in front of him. He wasn't the toughest he'd ever tried to crack, but he was up there. "What. Do. You. Want. In. Konoha?" Ibiki punctuated each word with another mental strike, like lashes of a whip.

Ino's head snapped back and cracked into the wall sharply as her whole body arched against the pain. Her fingers spasming so hard she snapped the pencil in half and her clipboard clattered to the floor. On the ground nearby Chigumo writhed and screamed, his fingers digging into his scalp. His thoughts so fragmented that they were just an inarticulate howl at this point, making Ino feel like she was standing inside of a ringing boncho bell, her senses dulled and her head splitting.

--_talkyesI'lltalktellyoueverything...justmakeitstop-- _

Chigumo muttered incoherently to the floor he was curled into, blood dripping from his mouth. His mind formulating what and how much to tell the Konoha ANBU who were torturing him. He looked out from under the fall of black hair that covered his face and his eyes met right as it came on her like a rush, everything they'd ever want to know, followed all too closely by the next wave of crippling pain from Ibiki.

"No...more," Ino moaned, her trembling hand coming up in front of her face as she tried to make the seal to release the jutsu, her chakra almost gone. She felt something wet on her lips and the coppery taste of blood --a nosebleed-- she'd definitely held the jutsu too long and put too much stress on her brain. _"Release!" _she mouthed silently.

She lifted her head to see Ibiki looking over his shoulder at her narrowly. She held a hand up to her bleeding nose as she stood, trying to give him the smallest of nods to say that she had gotten the wanted intelligence from Chigumo, but all she got was the dirty white linoleum floor rushing up to smack her in the face.

And then nothing.

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_Reviews and comments are welcome, but I'm not holding the fic hostage for them._


	4. Monkeys, Boars, and Icepacks

**Limbo**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto._

_Author's Notes: Many apologies for the delay in this. I was out of town for two weeks and when I got back I just tossed what I had written and redid it. Sorry also for the shortish chapter, but it seemed as good a place to break as any._

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_9:06 am. Morino Ibiki's Office, Tuesday._

Morino Ibiki looked up over the rim of his coffee cup at the ANBU agent sitting forlornly on the threadbare couch in his office. He didn't think that any one could pull off looking forlorn while in full ANBU regalia, but leave it to Yamanaka Ino to be the one. She sat with elbows on her knees and an icepack held over her face where she'd impacted the floor. She was going to have at least one black eye and her lower lip was split to hell, but she'd live.

"Feel any better yet?" he asked her mildly. One pupiless blue eye met his as she raised her head slightly and peeked out from behind her hair and the icepack, the first time she'd made lasting eye contact with him since she'd entered his office almost an hour earlier.

"Do I look any better?" she countered, enunciating carefully because of her split and swollen lip. Ibiki just smiled slightly to himself.

"The meeting with Tsunade-sama is soon. Want to go over it again?" Ibiki asked, keeping his voice as low and gentle as he could. The frustration that was pouring off the blonde was almost tangible and she sighed heavily, her head hanging even lower.

"There isn't anything more I can add. Just that his name is Chigumo, he's a former chuunin from Sunakagure --no idea if he's missing nin status, we would have to ask Sand about that-- he left Sunakagure because of Gaara-sama's appointment to Kazekage. He came to Konoha to meet someone, or recruit someone...it wasn't clear." Ino moved the icepack back over her face.

Ibiki tapped the clipboard Ino had been using in the interrogation room lightly. "Almost exactly what it says here," he pointed out. "Are you sure there wasn't any more?"

Ino's fingers dug into the icebag over her face, popping through the plastic with her nails as she bared her teeth, her lip splitting open again to ooze blood as her temper snapped. "I'm sure there was, in fact I _know _there was. I can almost see it dancing right in front of me, taunting me, but for the last time, Sensei...I just can't remember! It's driving me crazy!" she snarled her voice rising at the end. She tossed the icepack aside with disgust and fisted her hands in her hair at the temples, her breathing harsh and as Ibiki watched several fat droplets of blood fell from her nose to spot the floor.

He was troubled about her inability to remember anything from the end of the interrogation. After all, she'd performed the jutsu with him many times before in training with none of the effects she or the prisoner had suffered, which implied that his techniques had possibly affected it. It was frustrating from an Intelligence gathering viewpoint, but also because it suggested that something unforeseen and potentially dangerous had happened during the jutsu. Her bloodshot eyes and lingering nosebleed were more cause for concern. He didn't need Yamanaka blowing her circuits on her first assignment.

Silently, Ibiki rose from his desk and crossed to her, kneeling in front of his protégé to look at her eye level. He was glad the door to his office was closed. He'd heard the rumors going around about her being his pet favorite, the unkinder of whispers suggesting she'd earned the assignment to his squad on her back, which couldn't be farther from the truth. Morino Ibiki's Interrogation squad was small and handpicked, that was true. And while he utilized whatever ANBU agents were on duty at the time, like Neji or Yuugao to augment their numbers, there were only four ANBU permanently assigned to Ibiki: Sarugaku Tsuzumi, Tatami Iwashi, Mimura Hamase, and now Yamanaka Ino. The fact was, despite his reputation as a sadist and unrepentant hard ass, Ibiki wouldn't work closely with anyone he didn't like and respect.

And he liked and respected Yamanaka.

He took a handkerchief out of his coat pocket and gently lifted Ino's head by the chin, pressing the soft cloth lightly to her bleeding nose and mouth. This close to her he could see the glaze of pain in her deep eyes. He put one hand on the back of her neck to support her head as he lifted her chin higher, tipping her head back to slow the bleeding. Ino clutched his hand that was holding the handkerchief.

"Sensei!" she gasped, her eyes shining wetly. "I'm sorry, I wish I could remember...I know...it's in there, somewhere, if I could just try it again. Maybe do the jutsu with him on my own. I know I can--" Ibiki cut her off with a curt shake of his head.

"Not happening," Ibiki told her firmly. "You were out for over four hours. The subject went unconscious the same time you did and he's _still_ out cold. We don't know what lasting damage you might have done to yourself, Yamanaka...or to him."

Ino's fingers tightened over his hand. "Please," she murmured quietly. "Please let me do this. I...I just..."

"Just what?" Ibiki questioned. His large hands were cradling her head and he leaned back on his heels, putting some distance between them. Ino lowered her head when he let go of her to gaze at him levelly, her eyes intense.

"I can't fail. Not at this. Don't let me fail," Ino pleaded softly. "Not after I've worked so hard to get here."

Ibiki sighed, resting his elbows on his knees as he crouched in front of her. He could see the still raw and healing spiral tattoo on her shoulder that now marked her officially as one of them, as much as her black and white uniform or fierce determination did. He rose and went to his desk without answering and took something from the top drawer, tossing it over to her casually. She caught it deftly in one gloved hand and looked down at the red and white ceramic saru mask, and then back up at him hopefully.

"I'll consider it," Ibiki told her. "For now, go find Mimura and see if he can heal you up before the meeting. You look like hammered crap," he growled and picked his coffee cup back up. He hated looking like a softie.

"Thank you, sir," Ino told him gratefully as she rose carefully from the couch to go, collecting her icepack to take with her, and she gave him a small crooked smile. "Especially for not assigning me the inoshii mask."

Ibiki chuckled into his coffee as she left. Monkey or Boar, the red and white mask he'd given her had still been the exact same colors as her fresh blood on his handkerchief.

And that thought sobered him right up.

_Later that morning..._

Behind her saru mask Ino closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall outside of Tsunade's office. Trying to will the splitting and throbbing pain of her head to subside. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to find Hamase to heal her before she and Ibiki had been summoned to Tsunade's office, leaving Ino to have to suffer in silence behind her mask. After giving her embarrassingly limited report to the Hokage, Tsunade had dismissed her to debrief Ibiki alone. Feeling the mask pressing against her swollen eye and lip, Ino carefully tipped the mask up to rest above her forehead like a visor where it would be handy to lower quickly if someone came along.

She folded her arms over her white armored chest and let her mind drift, trying to think back and see if she could remember anything more about the interrogation. Perhaps if she emptied her mind the events would come to her on their own, but as she tried retracing the night before her thoughts inevitably turned to Genma and stayed there. Wondering what might have happened if Neji hadn't shown up to retrieve her for the interrogation. Would she have gone with Genma and Kakashi to Iruka's for beer? Had Genma gone without her? Ino touched her split lip tentatively with her tongue as she pondered another possibility, if Genma had declined Kakashi's invitation...would she have invited him up to her place? She lowered her head as heat rose on her face. Best not to wander that trail of thought too long.

"Well, well, Ino-pig...I would have thought they'd have given you the inoshii mask for sure," a bright and all too familiar voice chirped from in front of her. Ino's lips quirked as she repressed a crooked grin, wary of splitting her lip open again.

"Cram it, Forehead. Not everyone has your crappy sense of humor, thank goodness," she replied and raised her head to look Sakura in the eyes. The pink haired medic-nin's eyes widened and she whistled softly.

"Holy crow, Ino! What the heck happened?" Sakura asked as she catalogued Ino's injuries in a glance. Black and horribly bloodshot eye, blood rimmed nostrils, split and swollen lip. It wasn't the worst damage she'd ever had, but Ino was pretty protective of her face in a fight, most opponents never got close enough to her to land that much damage, not without coming out worse for it. Ino must have been in some brawl.

"Classified. You know, could tell ya, but then I'd hafta kill ya. Routine," Ino shrugged, holding her hands up in a 'can't be helped' sort of gesture.

"Yeah. Think you're such hot shit now," Sakura scoffed, giving her a knowing smile. "I ought to leave you like this just to teach you a lesson. Don't bite off more than you can chew," she scolded, her arms akimbo. Ino scowled, which hurt her face much less than smiling.

"Bite _this,_" Ino snapped, flipping Sakura off. "It wasn't even like that, and I can totally handle myself and you know it!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Not looking that way from where I'm standing. So if you weren't in a fight, what then? Gonna tell me you got drunk and fell down the stairs? Or ran into a door?"

Ino winced. "I hit the floor," she mumbled inaudibly. Sakura cupped her ear and leaned closer to her oldest friend.

"Come again? Didn't quite get that," she taunted, a smile gracing her lips as she pushed Ino's buttons. Sakura knew they should probably be more professional right outside of Tsunade's office considering her position as her apprentice and Ino's ANBU uniform, but the hallways were quiet and she'd never been able to resist working on Ino's nerves. It was part of the complex dynamic of their friendship Post Sasuke.

"'Said I hit the floor, okay?" Ino blurted defensively. "Now can you just fix it, please? My head is killing me."

At Ino's tone Sakura bit back whatever smart-assed reply she'd been about to deliver. Reaching up she pushed down on the taller blonde's shoulders, urging her to sit so she could reach her head better. Green chakra surrounded her hands as she started healing Ino's injuries. Ino closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. Grateful when the abominable pressure finally started to lift.

"Looks like the floor won, Ino-pig," Sakura murmured under her breath.

"I knew you couldn't resist. You always have to get the last jab in," Ino grouched without opening her eyes. She'd let this one slide since Sakura was doing her a favor. But next time, Sakura wouldn't get off so easily.

"It's common sense, Ino. If you're going to get loaded and pass out try to aim for something softer," Sakura teased as she finished up her healing and stood.

"I wasn't drunk! Just drop it already," Ino growled. Sakura frowned lightly and offered Ino a hand up.

"Sheesh! You're in a rotten mood. What's gotten in to you? I was just playing around," Sakura asked concerned. Ino pinched the bridge of her nose, unaware that the two of them were no longer alone in the hallway.

"I know. Sorry I snapped. I just had a really crappy night that's continuing into a horrible morning. I've...got a lot on my mind," Ino explained.

"Well, try to relax if you can and not let it get to you," Sakura told her gently, laying a hand on her friend's arm. "I have to get back to the hospital, come by and see me if your head starts to bother you again, okay?"

Ino nodded and managed a small apologetic smile. "Thanks, Forehead," she called after her departing friend.

"A crappy night, huh?" a deep voice asked from the side opposite of Sakura's departure and Ino's focus of attention. Ino stiffened automatically for a fraction of a second, her defenses on high alert as she felt a soft brush of fabric against her bare arm. Then relaxed even before turning her head as familiar chakra and warmth registered.

"Pretty much from the time Neji showed up, yeah. Everything before that was great," she told Genma and smiled. Flattening her hands on the wall behind her and leaning on them. Genma grinned around his senbon as he leaned casually next to her.

"Looks like you had a rough time of it. Still got some blood on your chin," he said lightly, rubbing the offending spot gently with his calloused thumb. Ino flushed slightly, knowing she should move away and lower her mask before Ibiki returned or anyone else came along, but unable to do it when Genma was at her side.

"'S no big deal," she demurred and reluctantly slid a half step away from him when he dropped his hand. Sometimes it was so hard to stay professional, she thought as she glanced longingly at his handsome face. So hard.

"So..." she started, trying to fill the sudden silence. "Did you, uh, go have drinks with Kakashi at Iruka's after I left?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah," Genma replied simply.

"Have a good time?" she prodded. Genma's short answers weren't even a challenge to her. She worked with Hyuuga Neji and was Nara Shikamaru's teammate for over four years. She was fluent in Conversational Monosyllables as a language.

Genma gave the senbon between his teeth a thoughtful circuit from one side of his mouth to the other and back before responding. "It was okay. I guess I was just hoping for different company last night though," he said.

Ino's mouth fell open and she shut it before he could notice, her mind reeling with the possibilities and implications and all the delicious little scenarios her twisted and depraved mind conjured up in the half second before he turned to her and winked.

"I've got a mission, so I better be off," he told her, lifting the mission scroll in his hand and wagging it.

"Right," Ino exhaled, not even aware she was holding her breath. Her muscles relaxed as he strolled off, had she been about to pounce? She reached up and lowered her mask, glad it would hide her telltale blush.

At the end of the hall Genma paused and looked back over his shoulder. "_Saru-_san, I get back tomorrow. Have dinner with me?" he called.

Under her mask Ino's grin felt hot and wild as it split her face and she nodded, trying not to seem too enthusiastic about it. "When?"

"Eight. My place. Yuugao-chan can tell you how to get there," Genma tossed back with a lazy wave and then was gone.

The fact that she didn't jump up and down with glee right there in the hall Ino felt was a small victory for professionalism.

_Meanwhile in Tsunade's office..._

Tsunade tapped one perfectly manicured nail against the surface of her desk in agitation as she read over Morino Ibiki's mission report thoroughly for the second time, letting the scarred Special Jounin sweat it out as he waited for her attention. It wasn't one of her usual tactics, but she needed the time to collect her thoughts. She wasn't happy with this, and she didn't like feeling like she'd made a mistake. That she'd let Ibiki persuade her into assigning Yamanaka Ino to his squad before the chuunin was ready or experienced enough to handle it. Perhaps she should have left Ino where she was, just going out on reconnaissance and intelligence gathering missions.

Against the wall near the door, a hooded figure stood behind Ibiki, his face hidden by a red and white tora mask. His presence silent and unobtrusive, yet he made the skin on the back of Ibiki's neck crawl with awareness.

"Shizune," Tsunade barked, setting the scroll down with snap. The dark haired medic appeared at her side immediately. "Send a missive to Sunakagure about this shinobi we have in custody. I want to know more before I make any final decisions."

"At once, Tsunade-sama," Shizune murmured and was gone.

The Hokage folded her hands under her chin and gave Ibiki a long level look. As expected, the torture specialist looked non-plussed. "Has the prisoner regained consciousness yet?"

"Not as of 0930 hours this morning, Godaime-sama," Ibiki reported solemnly. Tsunade sighed silently.

"I'm not pleased. Unknown shinobi infiltrates the village, is captured, interrogated twice by the ANBU Special Interrogation Squad, and the best you have to tell me is that he was a Sunagakure former chuunin and he might have been in Konoha to recruit for some unknown objective?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Where is the prisoner now?"

"Holding cell at ANBU headquarters under moderate guard. Two of mine, three of Tora-_taicho's_," Ibiki told her. His face tightening at the mention of the ANBU Captain behind him. Tsunade nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you think that is sufficient, _Taicho_?" she addressed the silent cloaked figure without looking at him.

"I concur with Morino-san that the prisoner poses no real threat...for now," the ANBU Captain answered mildly.

"No, it's only when he's conscious that he seems to be a problem for you." Tsunade's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I think that both of you are failing to see the bigger picture here. This is obviously no normal shinobi. Beyond the fact that he successfully infiltrated Konoha, you've had two cracks at interrogating him with no results, yet he's managed to injure two ANBU members. Don't think I didn't notice Yamanaka's lack of chakra _or _ the fact that she lost consciousness during a jutsu," she said pointedly, tapping the mission report in front of her as she pinned Ibiki to his seat with her gaze. "There is obviously more to this here and I want to know what you plan to do about it."

"He'll be thoroughly questioned again as soon as possible, Tsunade-sama," Ibiki replied stiffly. Tsunade could tell he was feeling his authority on the investigation was in jeopardy.

"Third time's a charm, huh?" Tsunade scoffed.

"Tsunade-sama?" the ANBU Captain interrupted smoothly. "Perhaps if we let Morino-san's subordinate interrogate him on her own as she's requested there might be a more positive response on the prisoner's part." Tsunade looked interested. That little bit of information wasn't in Ibiki's report. Tsunade knew better than to wonder where Tora-_taicho_ came about his information. The man had ears everywhere.

"How so?" the Hokage inquired.

"Well, she's a rather attractive young kunoichi from what I've seen. And obviously brute force has gotten Morino-san's squad nowhere so far..." the ANBU Captain let the thought hang. "Of course, it's still Morino-san's call, as it is his squad and his investigation," he finished. Tsunade's eyes flicked over to Ibiki, still as passive and unreadable as a statue.

"Ibiki?" Tsunade prompted, refolding her hands and resting her chin on them again.

"I won't purposefully endanger one of my team needlessly. I still think it's too dangerous," Ibiki said.

"Of course. I would be glad to offer the interrogation skills of one of my squad if you'd prefer?" the ANBU Captain offered. Ibiki visibly bristled.

"That won't be necessary. My squad can handle this," he replied coolly.

"Well, whatever you decide I want some answers. It should take a day or two to get an answer back from Sunagakure about this man. Ibiki, I'm giving your squad two days so get me some reliable intelligence about what's going on with this shinobi. After that, I'm turning him over to the ANBU. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ibiki responded quickly.

"Dismissed."

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_Thanks as always to those who take the time to review and comment. I appreciate your reviews and I'm glad you're enjoying the fic. _


	5. A Brush with Hurricane Ino

**Limbo**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto._

_Author's Notes: I don't want to seem like I am dragging out or building suspense toward Ino's big dinner date with Genma. This transitional piece here just underwent several re-writes and modifications before I was happy with it, and since it's been a while since I updated I thought I'd throw you this bone while I work on the rest. _

_Enjoy! And if you have the time...a review would be lovely._

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_5:15 p.m., Streets of Konohagakure, Wednesday._

The shadows were starting to grow long as the sun started sliding farther toward the eastern horizon, still a good hour or more of summer daylight left before evening took hold. The village streets were bustling with shinobi and civilians alike all making their way to their homes or restaurants for their evening meals. Ino wandered amongst the crowd, just another Konoha shinobi in her dark turtleneck, pants and trademark green vest. She'd spent the last sixteen hours on gate duty, pulling a double shift just so that she could have that evening off for her dinner with Genma. She wondered if it was some form of sadistic punishment from Ibiki for her failure in the interrogation the day before - true, she was still just a chuunin, and all chuunin were required to work a certain number of hours a month on routine village duties, like manning the mission desk, night patrols, or gate administration - but it just seemed somewhat too coincidental that her name came up in the rotation right after screwing up.

She glanced over at a clock that was displayed in the window of a shop. Less than three hours before her dinner date with Genma and she still had no idea where his apartment was. He'd told her to ask Yuugao, but unfortunately for Ino the violet-haired kunoichi was out of the village on a mission. She'd hoped to catch her when she returned, but Ino had pulled her double duty on the lesser used eastern gate. She'd checked with the mission desk at the end of her shift, but it seemed that Uzuki Yuugao was still listed as on assignment. As was Shiranui Genma.

Chewing her lower lip thoughtfully she considered who else she could ask for Genma's address. It wasn't a choice she took lightly. Despite her rather impulsive and impetuous nature, Ino actually preferred to keep her personal life, well...personal. Discreet. Especially with relationships that were new, though she supposed technically what she had with Genma couldn't even be called a relationship yet. Ino sort of felt like she was just blindly following Genma down a path that she didn't know the destination of, but she really didn't care all that much. It still didn't mean that she needed or wanted any of the grief she'd be sure to get if she asked the wrong person about how to find Genma's home, therefore feeding the rumor mill.

Like letting some non-existant cat out of a theoretical bag.

Still deep in thought she drifted around a corner and ran face first into another green flak jacket just like her own. Ino almost bounced back onto her butt, but strong hands grasped her upper arms to keep her from falling. The acrid smell of cigarette smoke filled her nostrils and she looked up to see she had run into her old sensei.

"Whoa there, almost took a tumble," Asuma said before he really looked at her. His smile widened when he recognized who had run into him and he put his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place. "Ino-chan! Why, look at you! I hardly recognize you!" he said cheerfully, looking her over in her standard Konoha-issued uniform like he'd never seen her before.

"You just saw me the other night..." Ino pointed out. Asuma patted her on the shoulder and stuck his hands in his pockets, his grin turning a bit sheepish.

"Yeah, guess I did," he paused, scratching the back of his head. "Which reminds me... I don't really remember much, but uh...Kurenai-chan mentioned that I _might_ owe you an apology for my behavior at Genma's party," Asuma told her. "So if I said - or Gods forbid - did anything that offended you, Ino-chan..." he trailed off.

"It's okay. I know you didn't really mean it," she shrugged, dropping her eyes to the ground. She and Chouji both knew that their genius teammate was their sensei's favorite. They hadn't questioned it, nor felt the need to contest it. It was just fact. Ino had learned to swallow that bitter pill in later years whenever Asuma chose Shikamaru or Chouji to take on missions with him and she was left behind or shunted off to another cell. It was an old hurt, one she'd forced down countless times. Shikamaru was Asuma's prize pupil. Chouji had also earned his praise, especially after he'd made chuunin, but Ino...

Well, it had always been obvious. Asuma just didn't know what to do with her at all.

Asuma flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette and exhaled in resignation. Ino didn't look up, but she could feel his eyes on her, studying her. "Kurenai-chan might have a point, damn her. I guess I haven't really been fair to you. You've become a tough kunoichi in your own right. It's wrong to always compare you with Shikamaru, or Chouji." Asuma shifted his weight uncomfortably and looked up at the golden blue sky, his teeth clamped around his cigarette. "I.. Shit...why me?" he muttered to himself then turned his attention back to her. "I should have been a better teacher to you," he finished quickly, dark color rising to his cheekbones. Ino stared in shock. In his own indirect macho-man way, was Asuma actually apologizing to her? How completely unprecedented.

Ino stepped forward to hug her former sensei, rescuing him from the moment. Pressing her cheek against his flak jacket as her heart swelled with happiness to have finally received his acknowledgment at last. "I wouldn't have traded places with any other kunoichi in my class for anything. You're the best, Asuma-sensei," she told him. She meant it too. If she had to do it over again, she wouldn't trade her former team or sensei for an entire squad of Sasuke's. Asuma hugged her back briefly with one arm before rumpling her short hair playfully, his expression almost relieved.

"And don't worry," Ino added as she pulled away, "Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell Kurenai-sensei she was right," Ino winked conspiratorially. Asuma groaned at that before they shared a laugh. He felt good though. His dysfunctional genin squad had turned out okay in the end after all.

"Hey, I'm meeting Shikamaru and Chouji at the Korean BBQ right now for dinner --in fact I'm probably late-- will you join us? My treat," Asuma asked. Ino was torn. It had been a long time since all four of them had gotten together and she really did miss Shikamaru and Chouji, but she still had her mission of finding Genma before eight.

"I'd love to, but I already have dinner plans later tonight," she said regretfully.

"What time?"

"Eight," she told him.

Asuma reached out and took her arm, turning her in the direction he'd been going toward the BBQ restaurant and pulling her along with him. He let go after a couple of steps to light up another cigarette. "Plenty of time," he told her between puffs. "I'll buy you a cup of sake to celebrate your promotion. Hell! I'll buy you two. You deserve it."

"You heard about that? How?" Ino asked. It'd only been two days that she'd officially been part of the ANBU Interrogation Squad and she hadn't even gotten the chance to tell a single soul about it herself yet.

"Little bird told me," Asuma joked. Ino's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"That little bird wouldn't have a senbon permanently affixed to its beak would it?" she asked narrowly. Asuma glanced down, his cigarette dangling precariously from his lower lip.

"Huh? Genma? No, just heard it through the grapevine," her sensei replied, looking puzzled. Ino cut her eyes away before he could read anything in them she didn't want him to know.

"Speaking of..." Ino started carefully. She was trying to delicately work her way into asking her former teacher for Genma's address when they arrived at the restaurant. Chouji and Shikamaru waiting out front.

"Eh, Asuma...you're late," Shikamaru complained as he pushed off from the wall he was leaning against. His tall lanky build slouching at the shoulders as he slunk over to them, hands stuffed in his pockets. Ino knew he'd be almost as tall as Asuma if he could ever be bothered to actually stand up straight. He'd gotten slouchier it seemed the taller he'd grown, like every additional inch was some incredible burden. Knowing Shika, it probably was.

Chouji was taller than both their teammate and sensei now, his lion's mane of chestnut hair shining in the last rays of the sun that sliced over the rooftops with their golden light. His cherubic tattooed face splitting into a wide grin when he noticed who Asuma had brought with him to dinner. "Ino-chan!" Chouji cried happily and then picked her up to give her a hug. Ino threw her arms around him to return the affection of her longtime friend and former teammate.

"I've missed you!" she told him sincerely, squeezing her arms tight around the big bear. And she had, it'd been a few months since she'd seen either of them beyond the odd crossing of paths at the mission desk, and her training with Ibiki had kept that from being too frequent. She turned to Shikamaru with a smile when Chouji put her back on her feet and brushed her short hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand. "Hey, Shika..." she greeted the Shadow-nin.

Shikamaru grinned, exposing his teeth in that one expression he had that said he was actually glad to see her, and making her own smile widen in unhidden delight. "Hey yourself," he replied and she couldn't stand it, her enthusiasm for the spontaneous reunion got the better of her and she pounced. Throwing her arms around Shikamaru's neck to give him a hug too and nearly knocking him over with her exuberance. "Such a pain," Shikamaru muttered complainingly, but his arms went around her back to squeeze her tightly to his chest. Padded vest to padded vest.

"Shut up and take it like a man," she teased. And then for the final insult gave him a rather loud smacking kiss on the cheek before she let him go. Giggling along with Chouji's amused chuckles as Shikamaru mumbled his favorite catch phrase and wiped his cheek. Too bad she wasn't wearing more than just plain lip balm. His reactions were even more priceless when she actually wore lipstick.

"Let's go in. Ino can't stay that long," Asuma said, shepherding them inside.

They got a booth by the front, the low bamboo wall and awning separating their table from the street outside and letting the cool breeze into the restaurant. For a change Ino slid into the booth before Chouji so she could see outside, her eyes moving restlessly over the passersby, hoping she might get lucky and see Yuugao returning, or even better, Genma. She'd missed her opportunity to ask Asuma, since there was no way in hell she'd ask for the special jounin's address in front of Shikamaru and Chouji. She didn't need to give Shikamaru any more ammunition to pick on her than he already had, thank you very much.

The waitress came and took their order while Ino paid only half attention. Her mind out there with the crowds and she almost missed it as Asuma finished the order with, "And four bottles of Sake, please."

Ino whipped her head back around. "Four? No, one! You trying to get me loaded?" she laughed. "One bottle, two cups," she told the waitress with a smile. Asuma turned back to the waitress. "Two bottles, four cups," he corrected. With a slight eyeroll at the whims of crazy shinobi and the extra-large order of meat the waitress left.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow from where he sat across and diagonal to Ino and looked over at the bearded jounin. "This an occasion or something?"

Asuma smiled broadly. "Sort of. Our Ino has made good. She's just been promoted."

Shikamaru smirked. "What? You make ANBU or something?" he scoffed. Ino tried not to bristle defensively, so she smiled sweetly instead.

"As a matter of fact, yes. The Interrogation and Torture Squad actually."

Shikamaru's squinty eyes actually widened a moment she was pleased to note before his usual bored and grumpy expression slid back over his face like a mask. At her side, Chouji turned toward her with a wide and genuine smile. "Congratulations, Ino-chan! That's great! Did they give you the tattoo and everything?"

Ino smiled back at him, her hand coming up to touch her shoulder on his side. "Yeah, it's still sore. I'd show you, but well..." she apologized, tugging on the long sleeve of her turtleneck. Chouji nodded in understanding.

"Some other time," the Akimichi agreed. Ino glanced over to see Shikamaru slightly scowling at her.

"What?" she demanded loudly.

"That's Morino Ibiki-san's squad," Shikamaru said, his brow still furrowed. Ino raised her eyebrows in an impatient expression. She may have matured over the years, but something about Shikamaru just seemed to bring out her inner bitch, probably because he was the closest thing she had to a brother, and twice as irritating it seemed. To think five minutes ago she'd been hugging him and happy to see the lazy bastard.

"So?" she prompted, bristling inwardly in spite of herself. Shikamaru kept looking at her steadily.

"Why you?" he asked bluntly.

The temperature at the table plummeted by about ten degrees as Ino's eyes narrowed. The wary look had come back to Asuma's face and Chouji retreated to his last line of defense whenever Shikamaru and Ino argued, he pulled out a small bag of shrimp chips and started eating. Hoping in vain the crunching in his ears would drown out the coming fury. Ino surprised them all when she calmly smoothed her hands over the napkin in her lap and then folded them on the table, collecting her thoughts when she wanted nothing more than to launch herself across the table at Shikamaru and throttle him.

"Well, Shikamaru," Ino started, her voice deceptively soft and even. "As you are well aware, my family's jutsu's are specialized to the gathering of intelligence. And I'm sure even your big fat brain would agree that interrogation IS just another form of intelligence gathering, is it not?" she asked sweetly. "Ibiki-sensei thinks so."

Shikamaru grunted non-commitally. "But the Torture Squad, Ino?" he questioned. Ino gave him a positively evil smile that said she would be more than happy to give him a private lesson in all she'd learned from her new squad. He folded his arms over his chest as he leaned back in the booth, his eyes sliding half shut. "It just seems...wrong. Odd. You haven't been a chuunin _that_ long, and suddenly you're ANBU? Neji was a jounin for over a year before joining," Shikamaru pointed out. Leaving the point about the Hyuuga being a genius -while she was not- unsaid.

"I've been a chuunin over three years," she reminded him tightly, "and are you _trying_ to piss me off, Shikamaru?" Ino asked, her voice like ice. The other two occupants of the table trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible.

"Not specifically, no," Shikamaru sighed.

The waitress brought the sake bottles and Asuma was quick to pour them cups of sake to break the growing tension at the table. "All the more reason to be proud of our Ino, eh Shikamaru?" he prodded the Nara, handing him a cup of the alcohol. "Team 10 has always been ahead of the curve!" Asuma said cheerily, raising his cup. Chouji joined him, his eyes still flicking uneasily between his best friend and their blonde former teammate.

"To Ino-chan!" Chouji offered, raising his cup. Ino had her hands resting on the table on either side of her sake cup and she fisted them, her nails digging into her palms as she tried to keep her temper under check as she glared in Shikamaru's direction.

"Just say it, Shikamaru," Ino demanded quietly, her voice bitter as she ignored Asuma and Chouji's toasts. "You don't think I'm good enough to be in ANBU."

Shikamaru leaned forward over the table, almost putting his elbow in his cup of sake as he scowled at her. "I _never_ said that, Ino! And I never would. I said it was _odd_. There are protocols to joining ANBU, you know that. The exceptions are the geniuses; Hatake, Hyuuga, Uchiha..." he ticked off on his fingers, "you're no genius, Ino. Not trying to hurt your feelings, just stating fact," Shikamaru told her, sounding like he was lecturing one of his Academy students.

"But Shikamaru..." Chouji interrupted, his kind face troubled. Shikamaru made a dismissive _'tsking'_ sound and shook his head at the larger man.

"No, she's going to hear it, Cho," Shikamaru said. "Some shinobi train and wait for years for the chance to become ANBU. They don't hand those masks out to just anyone who wants one. Now Ino has just skipped ahead of the line? I don't have even have to hear them to know what the rumors will be like. That Morino-san only promoted her because she's beautiful. It's going to be troublesome for her. For you, Ino," Shikamaru finished with a pointed look at Ino.

Ino's anger had evaporated the moment Shikamaru had started talking about protocols. She understood now. He wasn't doubting her abilities, or belittling her skills as a kunoichi. He was concerned for her, acting as always in his lazy, lackadaisical way, as a protective older brother. An older brother who was only five hours older than she was, but it was the thought that counted. And she appreciated it, she really did. It was good to have friends that cared so much.

She picked up her cup of sake with a deviously smug look on her face. "Shikamaru thinks I'm _bee-yooo-tee-full_, did you hear that, Cho?" she sang gleefully. "He's finally admitted it after all these years," she grinned and sipped her drink.

Asuma shook his head in amusement, while Shikamaru face planted audibly onto the table. Chouji just chuckled quietly at the crafty gleam in Ino's bright blue eyes.

"So how long have you been hiding these tender feelings for me, Shika-kun? It's all so sudden..." Ino cried dramatically, fluttering her eyelashes as she clutched one hand -the hand not holding her liquor- to her chest like the virginal young maiden she hadn't been for years. Shikamaru raised his head sharply, looking stricken at the sudden bizarre turn in Ino's reasoning. "I never knew you harbored such deep passion for me," she sighed meaningfully.

"I WHAT? I never..." Shikamaru gaped, his mouth opening and closing as he looked from Chouji, to the simpering Ino and back.

"Admit it. You _loooooooove_ me," Ino sang, leaning over toward the blushing Shikamaru.

He looked flustered for all of two seconds until he noticed what Chouji already had, the look of bright mischief and teasing on her triumphant face and his eyes narrowed. Ino sagged back in the booth as she burst out laughing at his expression.

"Bitch," Shikamaru muttered, but there was no malice in it. She'd gotten him good, he had to admit.

"Dumbass," she retorted, smiling at him fondly as she giggled. He sneered silently at her before taking a sip of his drink.

"_So_ glad we got that out of the way," Asuma mumbled sarcastically under his breath as he poured another cup.

Ino looked away after Shikamaru had given her a small secret wink to let her know things were fine between them. She let her eyes roam over the thinning crowds and caught sight of a familiar tall figure with brown hair. What luck! She gulped the rest of her sake and hopped to her feet on the seat of the booth.

"Ino-chan?" Chouji questioned, as all three men looked up at her in surprise.

"Sorry, I see someone I really need to talk to, so I hafta run. Asuma-sensei, thank you for the drink. Shika, Cho, it was wonderful seeing you!" she smiled widely. "I love you guys!" Ino waved and was gone.

Chouji scooted over to where Ino had been sitting and peeked over the low wall to see Ino jogging to catch up with a spiky-haired shinobi and then fall into step with him as they headed down the street.

"And so we survive yet another brush with Hurricane Ino," Shikamaru quipped dryly, folding his arms behind his head as he slouched. Asuma chuckled as he lit another cigarette.

"Shika...do you really think that Ino-chan will have problems in her new squad? Like you said?" Chouji asked a few minutes later, after the waitress had brought the large order of food. The brazier in the large center of the table making Shikamaru's expression hard to read through the heat shimmer. "Shika?" he repeated when the shadow-nin stayed silent.

"I don't know. Maybe," Shikamaru answered finally. Chouji looked to their former sensei.

"She'll be fine," Asuma told him before Chouji could ask.

Chouji let it drop, but he noticed Shikamaru didn't look all that convinced either.

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_Reviews always appreciated. Also, please visit my Livejournal for updates. The link is on my bio page. _


	6. Date Presentable, Or Not

_Authors Notes: So sorry for the long absence. I moved half way across the country and work has been exceptionally time consuming, but I am trying to continue this fic. I really don't like leaving ANY fic undone and I've done too much of that in the past. I'll endeavor to not take as long with the next update. ;_

_Also, for those that were wondering about the ANBU mask names, I have chosen them based off of the zodiac and am calling them by their japanese names. Here is a little glossary of them and who we've met who wears the mask (in no order):_

_Hebi - _snake_, Saru - _monkey (Ino)_, Tori - _rooster/bird_, Tatsu - _dragon (Neji)_, Nezumi - _rat (Mimura Hamase)_, Ushi - _ox (SarugakuTsuzumi)_, Tora - _tiger (Yuugao & ANBU Captain)_, Usagi - _rabbit_, Uma - _horse_, Hitsuji - _goat,_ Inu - _dog (Tatami Iwashi)_, Inoshishi - _boar (NOT Ino! )

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_Elsewhere in Konoha..._

Ino tucked one long leg up underneath her chin as she sat on Raidou's faded old sprung couch and waited for him to finish showering. The sun had long since disappeared behind big thunderheads that had been piling up to the west all afternoon, and Ino could smell the coming rain on the breeze. She kept her eyes stubbornly off the clock above the door that told her that time was slipping away from her. Especially if she expected to have any hope of running back to her own apartment first to clean up for her date. A glance in the mirror Raidou had hung on the coat closet door told her that she wasn't looking all that exceptionally feminine and appealing at the moment in her bulky chuunin vest, loose pants, and limp hair. She could ditch the vest and instantly look better --because after all really, who _did_ that thing flatter? It even made skinny Shikamaru look wide-- but her hair was just hopeless. The increasing humidity wasn't helping it any either.

She sighed and rested her chin on her knee. It was just total luck that it'd been Raidou that she'd caught sight of from the restaurant as he was heading back in from a mission. As Genma's best friend and Yuugao's boyfriend he seemed the most logical choice to ask for directions to Genma's. Her luck had been tempered unfortunately, because she hadn't noticed until she'd caught up to him that he was with Yamashiro Aoba, a total big mouth if she'd ever met one. Aoba was a nice guy, but he had all the tact of a sledgehammer, and while Ino liked gossip, she didn't like being the object of it. So once again she was more or less forced into tagging along while Raidou and Aoba waited to file their mission report, hoping for the chance to get to speak with Raidou alone. Aoba had proven harder to shake than she'd originally thought however, and in the end she'd been so desperate that she'd followed Raidou home like a puppy.

She just hoped Genma was going to appreciate the efforts she was going to just to keep their date.

"Much better! Sorry to have kept you waiting, Ino-chan, but I just don't feel like myself until I can wash the mission grime off of me," Raidou said as he walked through his living area and into the kitchen. He wore a pair of old faded ninja blacks and was tugging a dark gray t-shirt down over his scarred chest. His hair was still wet and partially covered by a small white towel that hung precariously off of his head. "Beer or Soda?" he offered, surveying the contents of his icebox.

"Soda would be fine, thank you," Ino replied politely.

"All I have left is Pineapple...sorry," Raidou apologized, handing her a yellow can as he crossed in front of her to sit at the other end of the couch with his beer. Ino made a small face. "Genma's the only one that'll drink that crap," Raidou shuddered, propping his feet on the low table in front of the couch.

"Really?" Ino asked dubiously. Opening her can and taking a sip of the super-sweet soda she grimaced. "Ugh! He _likes_ this stuff?"

"He has strange tastes," Raidou sighed enigmatically into his beer. Ino was pondering just what exactly those tastes might be when Raidou spoke again. "So, what can I do for you, Ino-chan? Or did Yuu-chan send you by to check up on me?" he winked.

Ino searched in vain for a coaster to set her soda can down on, three sips of the overly sweet drink being her limit. "What? No, no she didn't...why? Do you _need_ checking up on?" Ino questioned narrowly. Raidou laughed, rubbing at his wet hair with the towel.

"I was kidding. Am curious as to why you're here, though. Not that you aren't welcome."

Ino bit the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. Suddenly it seemed somehow too rude and forward to say that the only reason she was there was to ask him for Genma's address. She also felt little awkward about visiting him without Yuugao or Genma present. She'd really only ever been around Raidou in the context of Yuugao's boyfriend. He and the other jounin were a circle of friends that while welcoming, Ino still didn't feel quite a part of. Raidou was friendly enough and she liked him quite a bit, but she really didn't know him that well. She was starting to wonder why she thought following Raidou home was such a good idea in the first place.

"Ino-chan?" he prompted when she hadn't replied, just tapped her steepled fingertips together nervously in a very Hinata-type fashion.

"I need a favor," she blurted suddenly, then blushed. "I know it's very presumptuous to ask, since I don't know you that well, but...I do trust you."

"Okay," Raidou said slowly, watching her as she fidgeted. "I'm honored you think well enough of me to ask."

Ino sighed gratefully at his words, seaming to deflate as she leaned back. "Really? Oh thank goodness," she exhaled. "You have no idea how this has been driving me crazy! All day! Who to ask? If I ask the wrong person then all kinds of rumors can get started up and nobody needs that kind of trouble, right? I don't know about Genma-san, but I know _I_ certainly don't need more of that kind of talk going around about me. There's enough already! Like this whole stupid thing I keep hearing about me and Ibiki-sensei! It's enough to make me want to crack some skulls! I mean, can you imagine? I worked my butt off to get that squad assignment and even stupid _Shikamaru_ had the balls to imply that there was some kind of...of..._impropriety _involved! That I got promoted because he wants to..._you know_! With me! Which is just... _beyond_ ridiculous...right?" Ino paused in her breathless rant to give Raidou a somewhat bright expectant look as she waited for his agreement.

"Err..." Raidou scratched his head, confused. "You've lost me. What about Genma, Ibiki, and Shikamaru's balls?"

Ino blinked.

"What the--? Were you even _listening_?" she sputtered, one vein on her forehead bulging dangerously.

"I thought I was!" Raidou said defensively.

"Well obviously _not!" _she shot right back, scowling at him as she pushed her chin length hair out of her face with the back of her hand. Raidou folded his hands on his stomach, holding his beer and gave her a somewhat bemused and indulgent look.

"Maybe try it again slower? Use little words this time...I've had a long day." Raidou's teasing grin was completely lost on Ino, who looked as thundery as the weather outside.

She wasn't sure at this point if she wouldn't just have more luck wandering the streets of Konoha calling out Genma's name until she found him, or maybe she should just blow the whole thing off and go home and take a hot bath. Because this whole "find me" game of his was starting to be more trouble than it was worth.

"You need little words even on good days, Sweetie. Don't kid yourself," a voice from the doorway said with a light chuckle.

Ino turned in her seat toward the door as Raidou looked up at the intrusion, a wide smile splitting his scarred face. "That's cause I'm old, I keep telling you that, Yuu-chan."

Yuugao shook the heavy raindrops from her long violet hair as she kicked off her sandals, rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's attempt at wit. "Ino-chan! This is a nice surprise," Yuugao greeted warmly as she took off her green jounin vest. "Checking up on my 'old man' for me?" she said, winking conspiratorially at her. The blonde smiled back at her gratefully, she'd never been so happy to see Yuugao in her life. Finally her mission would end in success!

"A-ha! I knew it!" Raidou cried dramatically from his place on the couch. "The kunoichi's _are_ in league against me!" With that he tossed the towel he'd had resting over his shoulders to Yuugao so she could dry her hair.

Once her vest and weapons had been stripped off and deposited by the door, Yuugao joined them on the couch, dropping a brief kiss on her boyfriend's smirking mouth before plopping down next to him with a sigh.

Raidou slung his arm over her shoulders, pulling her in close to his side. "Want a beer?" he asked quietly. Yuugao shook her head and took his out of his hand.

"Got one, thanks," she replied, taking a sip. Raidou pressed a lingering kiss to her temple, Ino's presence forgotten until she cleared her throat.

"Did you have a sucessful mission today, Senpai?" Ino asked, working her way up to asking Yuugao for Genma's address as soon as politeness would allow so she could flee and leave the two lovebirds alone. She'd spent enough time with the two of them since she'd become friends with Yuugao to know that they were always disgustingly cute and loving together. Especially whenever either returned from a mission. Normally, Ino found it very sweet and romantic, but right now it just made her kind of impatient and scratchy.

Yuugao sighed, her violet brows coming together. "Not really. We got some intel about a group of unknown shinobi camped somewhere southwest of here. We spent half the day looking, and found nothing. Not ashes from a fire. Not even a bent twig."

"Is that unusual?" Ino asked, confused.

"Again?" Raidou questioned. Yuugao nodded tiredly.

"Three times now we've gone out on the same call. Unknown shinobi seen camping in the forest outside the Village. It's from a reliable source. So we go out to see what's what and they're gone. Like they were never there. It's like chasing ghosts." Yuugao explained for Ino's benefit. "It's like..." she started and then frowned harder.

"Like what?" Ino prompted, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Like they know we're coming or something," Yuugao said, then shook her head in dismissal as she chuckled. "Ridiculous, I know..."

"I'm really hungry," she said then, changing the subject as she turned to Raidou. "Maybe we can meet up with--"

_'Fuck bad luck getting nabbed before I could meet up with--'_

Ino's body went deathly still as Chigumo's mental voice suddenly replayed loudly in her mind, drowning out the violet haired kunoichi's voice. _'Meet up with--' _ Meet up with who? It made her wonder. Could these vanishing shinobi have something to do with her squad's prisoner? It was too big of a coincidence not to be. She should have paid closer attention in the report of the circumstances of Chigumo's capture. Again, Ino tried remembering anything from the Interrogation with the captured shinobi, but still the answers seemed to be just out of reach, like a word dancing on the tip of her tongue. Something vitally important, something she should remember, she felt it intuitively, but it just wouldn't come to her, like it was being blocked. It was frustrating. Like she was letting Ibiki and the whole squad down.

"Ino-chan? _Ino!_"

Ino snapped back to the present when she heard Yuugao calling her name. "Huh?"

"We lost you there for a minute. You okay?" Yuugao asked with a smile. Ino nodded quickly in the affirmative. "I was just telling Raidou that I'm absolutely famished. Would you like to join us for dinner?" Yuugao asked.

"No! No, thank you...I..." Ino began, looking from Yuugao to Raidou briefly as she waved her hands in front of her. "I have a date for dinner tonight, actually. That's uh...kinda why I'm here."

Raidou nodded. "That's right. You said you wanted to ask me a favor."

Ino chewed her lower lip. "Well, truthfully...I wanted to ask Yuugao-senpai the favor," she said apologetically.

Raidou rolled his eyes and got up from the couch. "Oh, I get it... Girl stuff. Fine, fine! Reject me. I'll just go make myself scarce then," he pouted. Then leaned over and kissed Yuugao on top of her damp head. He rumpled Ino's short hair playfully as he went by to show he was just teasing and gave her a wink before disappearing into the bedroom and shutting the door.

Ino may not have known Raidou as well as she did Yuugao, but she couldn't help liking him. Despite looking so serious all the time because of his scarred countenance, he really had quite the sense of humor, as evidenced on the night of Genma's birthday with the _Icha Icha Paragon_ cover switcheroo. Ino was also privately of the opinion that the man must have been drop-dead gorgeous before his injuries, because he was still quite handsome now in spite of the scars. His personality only made him more so.

Ino shook her head, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to straighten it out from Raidou's mussing. "He's really something," she said to Yuugao, chuckling. "You're really lucky."

Yuugao smiled fondly at her younger friend. "Yes," she said wistfully. "I'm very lucky. I wouldn't trade him for...almost anything."

Ino tilted her head slightly, having caught the slight pause in the violet haired woman's answer. There was the tiniest hint of sadness in her dark eyes for a moment and then it was gone. "Senpai?" she murmured.

"A favor that has to do with dinner..." Yuugao grinned, deftly sidestepping Ino's concern as she tapped a red lacquered fingernail against her chin. She cocked her head at the younger woman playfully. "This has Genma-kun written _allllll _over it."

Ino blushed as Yuugao laughed at her. _"Senpai!"_ The blonde complained. Oh, how she hated being embarrassed! Yuugao got up and went to the window by the front door and motioned Ino over.

The storm had moved in with full dark, the whisper of the heavy rain audible through the closed window. Yuugao folded her arms over her breasts as she leaned against the cold glass, still smiling at Ino. "End of this street...see the lights of the park?" she asked Ino, tapping the glass with the back of a knuckle. Ino nodded. "Far side of the park facing the Hokage monument there are three green buildings. Third floor of the building closest to the cliff. The only apartment with a balcony. You can't miss it." Yuugao told her.

Ino nodded, memorizing the directions instantly. She didn't even bother wondering how Yuugao knew that directions were what she was after, she was just grateful she'd been spared the additional embarrassment of actually asking for them. Ino then glanced up at the clock over Raidou's door and winced.

_7:47 pm._

So much for primping. But given the pouring rain...

Yuugao settled her hands on Ino's shoulders and turned her around to guide her over to the door. Opening it and propelling her out onto the covered walkway. Rainwater dripped from the overhang above, making puddles on the uneven concrete. Yuugao squeezed her shoulders gently as she faced Ino toward her destination and then leaned in until her ruby lips were almost against Ino's hair.

"Go get him, tiger!" she whispered, giving Ino a gentle shove. Ino gasped, mortified. "_Gambatte yo!" _Yuugao caroled sweetly and then shut the door before the flustered Ino could whirl around with another indignant cry of _'Senpai!'_ on her lips. She could hear Yuugao behind the door laughing merrily at her.

Ino made a face briefly, pondering payback, and then turned back toward the Park at the end of the street and squared her shoulders. Now that the time was at hand butterflies were starting to flutter around in her stomach, so she took a deep fortifying breath. After all...it was _just_ dinner. With a _friend._ What was she so nervous about anyway?

"Well...here goes nothing," she murmured under her breath and ran out into the rain.

* * *

Somewhere in the darkness water dripped.

The monotonous sound drilled into Chigumo's tender brain, setting his teeth on edge. Since regaining consciousness the evening before his head had felt like someone was ramming two red-hot kunai in through his eye-sockets directly into his skull. Repeatedly. He'd been treated by a medic --the same sloe-eyed woman from the night he'd been captured--, but despite his repeated complaints about the pain, the medics said there was nothing physically wrong with him.

Chigumo gave a wry chuckle at the memory. Yes, there was nothing physically wrong with him whenever the Hokage's medic came to check. But there was plenty wrong with him whenever that scarred bastard finished with him and before he had his_ Nezumi_ masked ANBU heal the worst of his damage. They'd been interrogating him nearly constantly for the last nineteen hours, and in spite of it all, he'd given them nothing. Yet. Physical torture he could withstand. It was why he'd been chosen for this infiltration, but the mental fuckery that the scarred interrogator had been putting him through was another level of anguish completely. He wasn't sure how much more he could take before the mental blocks his mission partner had placed in him would crumble and he'd tell them everything.

The injured shinobi leaned forward, his lank hair covering his face as he tested the limits of his restraints. The Leaf ANBU knew what they were doing as the more he tested the ropes that bound him the more chakra they drained. Just a steady ebb to keep him weak. Coupled with that endless monotonous drip that made his head feel like it was going to crack open like an egg. It was maddening.

"Fuck this shit...I'd better get double pay for this," he muttered to himself.

The stealthy sound of a door softly opening had him on guard, but when he felt the familiar chakra signature he raised his head, straining to see anything through the heavy blindfold he wore. He could feel the air currents around him shift as the person knelt in front of him, and then the blindfold loosened to hang around his neck. He blinked, but the room was still nearly as black as pitch, the only illumination coming from the cracked open door. It was just enough light to make out the glow of the ANBU _Hebi_ mask the man before him was wearing.

"'Bout fucking time," Chigumo grunted, keeping his voice low. "Where the hell've you been?"

The man held a finger to his mask's lips, casting a glance over his shoulder towards the door as he felt other chakra signatures begin to approach, and then move away. "I've been trying to keep from being caught, no thanks to you. What was your plan for this? _Try_ and get captured? If so, brilliantly done." he murmured quietly, pushing the mask up to reveal a young and handsome face framed by longish hair.

"You little Bastard!" Chigumo hissed angrily. "I'd have thought twice if I knew it was gonna take you two fucking days to bail me out, Hitomaru!"

Hitomaru cocked his head to the side, seemingly unplussed by the scarred shinobi's vicious expression. "Couldn't move in without a disguise, Chigumo-baaaka," he drawled. Poking the older man in the nose, and none too gently either. "Took me a day and a half just to find the right ANBU and take his place. They are a rather paranoid bunch...very hard to surprise, especially when they think somethings going on. Suffice to say, our Leader is not pleased with the delays."

"So he sent you?" Chigumo asked warily, unease settling in his gut at the thought of their unseen Leader. The young man before him rolled his eyes.

"Of course! He wants to know what's taking you so long. Have you met with you know who or not? You'd best hope you have for your sake, Chigumo-baka...you know how Leader-sama gets when things don't go according to his schedule," he chided, wagging a gloved finger before the scarred shinobi's face in a reproachful manner. Chigumo winced at the thought as the handsome young man grinned cheekily at him, his perfect teeth flashing in the low light.

"Th-the mission is a failure. Now untie me and let's get out of here!" Chigumo said evasively, pulling futilely at the chakra draining restraints.

"Really?" Hitomaru questioned, tilting his head as he gazed sharply into Chigumo's bloodshot eyes. "Show me..."

Chigumo swallowed uneasily as the younger man's strange eyes bored into his. His head, which up until then had been a fog of pain and confusion miraculously cleared. He swallowed again as he felt Hitomaru flicker over his memories of the events that had taken place since his capture as easily as reading a book; the initial torture at the hands of the Torture Master, Morino Ibiki, his foiled attempt on his own life, his second interrogation in the presence of hot young blonde kunoichi. Hitomaru frowned at Chigumo's memory of her quick hand-seals and easy intrusion into his mind.

"A true Mind-ninjutsu user...that's interesting," he murmured to himself thoughtfully.

Hitomaru shook his head sadly then at the bound shinobi, his handsome boyish face almost a comic mask of despair as he clucked his tongue. "It's a shame, Chigumo-baka, that's bad news for you," he said softly. The next instant his gloved hand had grabbed Chigumo's jaw, his strong fingers digging into his flesh as he pried the scarred shinobi's mouth open. Chigumo's eyes widened in alarm as he watched Hitomaru's other hand come up, the short curved dagger that was his signature glinting in the low light.

Chigumo tried to thrash his head from side to side and get away, but the handsome young shinobi was stronger than his slight build let on and his fingers just dug deeper into his flesh. "No! Hito! It wasn't like that! Give me another chance! I can make contact! I'll tear this Village apart until I do! _Please!_" Chigumo hated hearing the weak, pleading tone in his voice as Hitomaru brought the knife closer to his face while shaking his head slightly.

"You know his rules, Chigumo-baka," he said mildly, before reaching in and cutting the other's tongue out in one quick stroke of the blade. Chigumo's eyes rolled up into his head and he screamed, Hitomaru kept his hand clamped over the other shinobi's mouth to muffle the noise, Chigumo's blood soaking profusely into the black ANBU gloves he wore. The noise subsided quickly enough as Chigumo started gagging on his own blood. Hitomaru let go of his head to wipe the blade clean on Chigumo's dirty uniform pants before re-concealing his favorite weapon. He hummed softly to himself as he rummaged through the weapons pouch of his stolen ANBU uniform. Chigumo grunted and gurgled softly, trying to speak with no tongue and he spattered a fine mist of blood on the younger man's face with the attempt. Hitomaru glanced up and held up a finger of his hand to his full lips in a shushing gesture, leaving a daub of blood behind from the soiled glove like some kind of macabre lipstick. "Quiet now, or I'll take your balls next," Hitomaru said mildly, "Ah! Here we are!" He crowed softly as he pulled a small cache of exploding tags from the pouch.

Chigumo's eyes almost fell out of the sockets they widened so much at the sight. He knew of Hitomaru's practices, he just never thought to be the unfortunate on the receiving end. It was making him regret not telling the Leaf shinobi everything and begging for asylum. If he'd known this would be his fate...he might have. He probably should have guessed, being partnered with Hitomaru in the first place. He struggled futilely against his bonds again as the younger man pulled out the smallest of the tags --no larger than his index finger-- and reached for Chigumo's head.

"Let's have some fun with them, what do you say, Chigumo-baka? Repaint this dreary room a whole new color?" he chuckled softly as he swiftly applied and concealed the exploding tags all over Chigumo's protesting body. When he was finished he stood with arms akimbo over the half-conscious shinobi who had been his partner, admiring his handiwork. Chigumo's eyes rolled up toward his again as he made a pathetic pleading noise, his chakra nearly drained from his struggling against his bonds.

"Poor Chigumo-baka..." he murmured, then leaned over the injured shinobi again, placing his hand comfortingly on the top of his head, the only 'safe' place to touch him now. "You got a bum rap, my friend. I suppose it doesn't hurt to tell you now, but...you were just bait. The real mission starts now." Hitomaru pulled a small vial from his vest and uncorked it, pouring the contents over the scarred shinobi's head to run down his face and mix with his blood. Chigumo's eyes sprung wide again at the distinctive smell and he shouted wordlessly the best he could, his meaning perfectly clear to the handsome young killer before him. Hitomaru held the piece of flesh he'd cut out of the other shinobi up for him to see. "I'll just keep this as a little souvenir, okay?" he grinned and then tucked the severed muscle into his pouch. "Give my regards to your ANBU hosts," he said amicably and replaced the blindfold over the grunting and noisy shinobi before him.

Hitomaru lowered his mask and slipped out the door, just as the ANBU --alerted by all the noise Chigumo was making-- rounded the corner. Morino Ibiki himself in the lead, just two running steps ahead of another ANBU wearing a _Tora _mask, his bearing more than anything else marking him as a Captain.

"You! _Hebi-san!_ Report!" Ibiki barked. Hitomaru held the hand dripping with Chigumo's blood to his chest, letting it stain his white vest and making him look injured. "What's going on here?"

"I heard shouting. _Taicho,_ the Prisoner was threatening to kill himself. I went in to stop it, but it was too late. He'd bitten his own tongue off and swallowed it. He was choking on it...I tried clearing the passage, but he bit me too, Sir," Hitomaru said respectfully, gesturing toward his hand. Hoping he sounded enough like the _Hebi_-masked ANBU he was replacing. He hadn't had that long to watch the man and adopt his mannerisms perfectly. "We need medics for him immediately!"

"Fuck!" Ibiki snarled and all but shoved Hitomaru out of the way as he reached for the door. Three masked ANBU right on his heels. "Neji! Watch this door! Hamase! Get the medics!" he barked as he threw the door open. The _Tora_-masked Captain favored Hitomaru with a speculative look, even as he was moving to follow Ibiki into the Interrogation Chamber.

"Get yourself over to the hospital for now. I'll want a full report later, is that understood?" he ordered sharply. The lights clicking on in the room behind him as Ibiki approached the grunting and straining Chigumo.

Hitomaru grinned wildly behind his mask as he backed away swiftly, the Captain already dismissing him. The other ANBU, including the _Tatsu-_masked one Morino had addressed as Neji barely sparing him a glance as they stared into the blood splattered chamber.

Calmly he walked out of the ANBU headquarters as the medics on duty ran past him, busting ass to answer Morino Ibiki's summons. An attractive woman with sloe-dark eyes and carrying a pig of all things was shouting orders as she hurried along behind. Hitomaru clasped his hands behind his back and started humming to himself again as he blended into the increasing rain and disappeared into the heart of the Village.

Shame he couldn't stick around for the fireworks. It was sure to be a blast.

* * *

Ordinarily, whenever Ino went out on a date --even if it was one she wasn't all that enthusiastic about-- she _always_ put effort into her appearance. And while she wasn't as vain and obsessed with her looks as she'd been when she was younger, Ino still liked looking good. She liked dressing in clothes that identified her as a beautiful woman, rather than just a shinobi, even if a stiletto heel could be as deadly in her possession as a kunai. The point was that she liked being well groomed. She liked her make-up perfect, her perfume alluring. She liked feeling desirable. She enjoyed the lingering and admiring looks from whatever male she'd deemed worthy of her company for the evening.

So it went without saying that she wasn't enjoying this one little bit.

Genma leaned casually in the doorway of his apartment in a loose t-shirt and an old faded pair of ninja blacks. The _at home_ attire _du jour_ for jounin just back from missions it seemed, Ino observed sourly. His hair was damp and the scent of soap wafted enticingly around him, along with the more savory aromas of miso and curry coming from inside. _He_ looked good enough to eat with his hair loose and free of the reverse hitai-ate.

Ino on the other hand, --thanks to the increasing storm and Yuugao's vague directions-- couldn't have been wetter if she'd purposefully jumped fully clothed into the river. She was cold. She was miserable. She was about as far from 'date presentable" as it was possible to get without actually resorting to sabotaging herself. And rather than lingering looks of admiration...he was laughing at her.

She wanted to punch him square in his handsome face.

"You remind me of that kitten who fell in the koi pond trying to catch his reflection," Genma chuckled and folded his arms over his broad chest. "But I'll bet you look more pissed off."

The glare Ino gave him could have peeled paint and sent Shikamaru and Chouji screaming for the hills, but Genma seemed pretty much unfazed by it. There was a spreading puddle of rainwater at her feet as she dripped unhappily. She opened her mouth to give him an appropriately scathing set down --followed by a dramatic and probably triumphant exit -- but before she could give him hell her stomach spoke up for her. Growling loudly and reminding her that thanks to her double shift at the gate, all she'd had to eat that day were a couple of measly onigiri that Mozuku had been kind enough to share from his bento. Ino folded her hands over her traitorous middle and shut her mouth with an audible snap.

Genma grinned knowingly and jerked his head toward the inside of his apartment. "There're towels in the bathroom. I'll get you something to wear while those dry," he told her, the tip of the senbon between his teeth catching the hallway light and reflecting it back as he spoke. "Just dump the wet stuff in the tub."

Knowing when to give in being the better point of valor in this situation, Ino held her head up stiffly and marched past Genma into his apartment. Nothing about the day was going right so far, but Ino was determined to try and not let it get to her. She was finally here and she would make the best of it, even if she did resemble a half drowned kitten according to Genma.

Soaked to the skin, she peeled her clothes off to wring out the excess rainwater into Genma's bathtub, setting her weapons pouch and kunai holster aside next to his. His bandana hitai-ate and jounin vest were both hanging up over the shower rod since they couldn't go in the clothes dryer so Ino followed suit. Hanging her smaller vest next to his. Genma knocked and then opened the door a crack, just sticking his arm in with some dry clothes. Ino dove behind the door with a squeak of surprise.

"Here ya go, these are the smallest I have."

"Thanks," she said, taking the bundle from him.

"No problem. Take your time, dinner's still not ready. I got back late," he told her and shut the bathroom door. Ino smiled secretly to herself. Strangely flattered that despite the horrid weather and his late return he was still keeping their date.

The soft old blue t-shirt and frayed drawstring shorts he loaned her smelled like him and completely swallowed her up. With the tee falling to her upper thighs and the shorts to the tops of her calves she was about as shapeless as a twelve year old boy and she sighed at her reflection in the mirror. Fingercombing her towel dried hair the best she could.

Genma was busy in his kitchen when she emerged from the bathroom, so she took a moment to look around the living area of his small apartment. Like most single male shinobi his age there wasn't all that much to look at. Ratty old furniture that was more about comfort than looks she hoped as she eyed his couch warily. It looked older than she was, possibly even older than he was. There were weapons scattered about, a pile of dull shuriken in need of maintenance, and on a side table rows upon rows of senbon needles carefully laid out in groups of ten or more. Typical for a shinobi recently returned from a mission.

Having caught her attention, Ino leaned over the senbon curiously, fascinated by the way the light caught them. She'd never been that big a fan of using senbon, she preferred the heft of a kunai in her hand if she had to fight hand to hand, so the last time she'd ever handled them was during weapons training at the Academy. She hadn't been very skilled with them, which was probably why she avoided using them. A wooden target hung on the wall above her, marked with thousands and thousands of tiny holes and bristling with senbon, all neatly grouped in the very center. Ino peered closely at it, impressed with the accuracy as each needle was nearly touching the next.

Given her acuity with kunai, she was curious to see if she'd be any better with a senbon after all these years and she reached down to pluck up a few for target practice while she waited for Genma to rejoin her. Ino's hand was almost on the metal needles when Genma's larger one suddenly wrapped around her wrist, stopping her. She jumped slightly, not having heard him or sensed his presence before he was just _there._ He pulled her arm up and away from the needles, as his hand on her hip pulled her back to him, fluid as a dance step.

"Careful," he murmured. "Those are treated ones."

Blood rushed to Ino's face and she twisted her head back to look up at him. "Treated? You mean..._poisoned?_"

He nodded. "More effective," Genma told her.

"Are they that potent?" She questioned, turning her gaze back to the innocent looking needles. It helped her ignore the fact that he hadn't let go of her yet. She could feel his heat behind her, just that close to her being pressed fully against him. "That just a touch can be so dangerous?"

"Until the poison has cured fully they can be a bit temperamental. Any moisture or small cuts on your hands and it can be absorbed. I've built up a tolerance, so it doesn't affect me to handle them," he answered her questioning gaze. "But, better to be safe than puking your guts out for about three days." Ino wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"That's lovely. Well, I'll try to remember to just look with my eyes around your stuff then," Ino teased, "and not with my hands."

The tip of Genma's senbon wagged up and down slightly in her peripheral vision as he leaned close to her, his breath stirring the hair at her temple. "Just the senbon, darlin'..." his voice purred in her ear. "Everything else is fair game."

Ino's breath caught in her throat as her pulse sped up. Again with the innuendo. How was she expected to respond? "Genma-k-ku..." she breathed. The more familiar form of address locking in her throat. He turned his head slightly and spit the long senbon between his lips casually toward the wooden target above her head, nailing the absolute center flawlessly. "Nice shot," she managed.

"I never miss what I aim for," he told her, his hand sliding farther around her waist.

"Oh. Ahem...well. Of course," Ino mumbled, hoping she didn't sound like the idiot she felt. It wasn't like she was a stranger to the dating game. Or the dance of attraction with a potential partner, she was no virgin, but the constant ambiguity about his intentions coupled with the way Genma teased and flirted with her just threw her relationship radar for a loop. Ino did best when she understood the rules of engagement. When she had a modicum of control over the outcome. This --as his arm tightened around her middle subtly, a flex of muscle that drew her ever so slightly closer-- was about as far from control or first date protocol as Yamanaka Ino ever got. Yet she was finding that really she wasn't all that upset about it.

Genma's other hand let go of her wrist to smooth her damp hair away from her face, and she leaned into the caress. "Tell me something I've wondered about," he said. His voice a deep rumble near her ear as his fingers gently combed through her short hair.

"Hmmm?" she purred, turning her head toward his as her eyes slipped closed. Enjoying the petting like the little kitten he'd called her.

"Why _did_ you cut your hair off a while back?" he asked. Tucking a lock of pale hair behind her ear and withdrawing to turn her around and see her face, his hands resting on her narrow shoulders. Ino's eyes cracked open to find him looking at her expectantly, and her brow furrowed slightly that he'd pulled back. Yet another mixed message. Her fingers drifted up to tug at a chin length lock absently.

"There was this mission..." she started, then made a face at the memory. "Short version; some Rock-ninja _moron_ grabbed me by the pony-tail and proceeded to use it to throw me against a tree. _Repeatedly._ Ergo, function won over vanity and style and the sacrifice was made. Chop, chop!" she illustrated, using her fingers to mimic scissors.

Genma chuckled softly, mostly at Ino's sour expression. His hands slid up from her shoulders to cradle her head in his palms. Soft hair sliding silkily over rough calloused fingers. "Well, I like it. It suits you," he murmured. Leaning in to place a lingering, but chaste kiss on the top of her head, before letting her go to return to the kitchen.

"Let's eat," he called.

More confused than ever, Ino followed.

* * *

**_Author's Note: _**_Yes...I'm leaving you hanging there. Sorry about that, but! I am already at work on the next part. _

_Reviews are wonderful feedback and very welcome, but I would appreciate not being chastised for the long absence and keep them about the story. Please?_

_Til next time!_


	7. Mixed Messages

_Disclaimer: Naruto not mine. Hitomaru is though...evil little bastard that he is. And just a reminder that this is growing ever farther from any canon imaginings._

_Chapter 533 made me soooo happy. It's about time Ino-Shika-Cho showed their mettle. Especially our Ino. ^^ Go Ino! And yay for another rare Genma sighting in Ch. 536 too. :D_

* * *

They ate dinner in silence, although he kept a close watchful eye on his companion as she ate her meal. She'd been wearing an inscrutable and altogether far more pleased of an expression than the occasion warranted all through dinner, and frankly...it was starting to bug him. He'd had an agenda for the evening, something he'd been working himself up to for some time now and her inexplicable _smugness _was definitely taking the wind out of his sails. Finishing his miso, he set the bowl down on the table with a firm snap.

"All right, what gives? You've been looking entirely too pleased with yourself all evening."

Her eyes met his coyly as she gazed innocently back at him from over her teacup. "I'm absolutely certain I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit."

She tipped her head to the side playfully at his tone as she smiled at him. "Can't I just be in a good mood?"

"Of course you can, but this's more than that. You have a _'cat that swallowed the canary'_ expression that only tells me that you're up to something."

"Up to something? What could I possibly-?"

"Yuugao..." Raidou cut her off warningly with a frown. She huffed slightly at his tone.

"Well, fine. It's just that Genma-kun invited our Ino-chan to have dinner tonight. At _his_ place. Isn't that wonderful?" Yuugao asked him happily.

"Hn," Raidou grunted noncommittally as he turned back to his dinner, earning himself an unhappy scowl from his violet-haired girlfriend.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" she demanded, her dark eyes narrowing. Raidou's eyes flicked up to hers momentarily before he returned his attention to his plate.

"It means, I don't see how that qualifies as _'wonderful'_, to be honest with you," Raidou shrugged. Yuugao gaped at him.

"He's your friend! How can you say that? Of course it is! He's been all alone for so long...never letting anyone get close-"

"Not THAT alone, Yuu-chan..." he interrupted with a knowing smirk. "He's not celibate, you know."

"_Emotionally_," Yuugao finished as if she'd never been interrupted, save for the stress she put on the last word. "He never lets anyone get that close to him _emotionally_. So it's wonderful that he's taking a romantic interest in Ino-chan. It's quite surprising!"

"Not that surprising with the way you've been throwing her at him," Raidou muttered quietly under his breath. Unfortunately for him, not quietly enough.

"I have _not!_" Yuugao said hotly, fisting her hands on the table as she tried to keep her voice low enough to not attract attention from the other diners.

"Ever since you met that girl you've been pushing her in front of him. Of course he was bound to notice her," Raidou argued back.

"What's wrong with that? Genma-kun just needs a little push in the right direction is all," Yuugao told him. "He's so emotionally distant, he needs this. And Ino-chan's a good match for him."

"He doesn't need your interference, Yuu-chan, or your help. If he wants to date again, he will." Raidou countered.

Yuugao's red lacquered nails dug into her palms as she held her emotions and temper in check...barely. "But he _doesn't_," she bit out finally.

"That's his business, my love. Not ours. Besides...she's awfully young. _Too_ young for him I think," Raidou mused, oblivious to the rising emotions of the kunoichi who sat across from him.

"Not that much more than the decade of difference between you and me. Does that make me too young for you? Is that what you think?"

"What?" Raidou gaped, cluing in at last to Yuugao's stormy expression and tightly fisted hands on either side of her plate. "Of course not! It's completely different."

"Oh you…_Hypocrite!_" Yuugao hissed under her breath at him. "You don't _know…_you don't understand _anything!"_ Raidou's eyes widened at the furious expression on his girlfriend's face. How had the conversation turned so quickly? Yuugao looked like she was seconds away from either storming out of the restaurant or doing him bodily damage with her chopsticks. And given her current occupation in the ANBU, bodily damage was a very valid worry on his part.

"Yuugao...what is this?" he questioned quietly as one furious tear made it's way down her cheek, her fingers gripping her chopsticks so tightly they snapped in half. Before Yuugao could answer the door to the restaurant slammed open, startling them all.

"There's been an explosion at the Hokage Tower!" A voice yelled over the growing din of the storm outside and the dozens of running feet as Konoha's Shinobi made their way to the center of the Village.

Their discussion put on hold by necessity, Raidou and Yuugao quickly made the hand seals for a teleportation jutsu and were gone.

* * *

The heavy rain muffled the shouts of Konoha's shinobi as they pulled the dead and injured from the smoking rubble of the ANBU's basement Interrogation Room. The worst of the injured -and there were fortunately more of those compared to the dead- were being immediately whisked away by white garbed Medical Nin.

Hidden under an overhang on a roof nearby, Hitomaru sat in the dark with his stolen _Hebi _mask tipped up on his head and watched the action. He was working his way through a small pile of persimmons that he'd stolen from a street vendor shortly after planting his little surprise on Chigumo, and the juice from the orange fruits mixed with the rain to drip from the ends of his gloved fingers. His pale eyes were fixed on a buxom blonde below as he watched her triage the injured before sending them on to the hospital as well as direct the ongoing rescue efforts. The Legendary Sannin and Godaime Hokage Tsunade in the flesh evidently...she was nothing like what he had imagined. For instance, she kept continually yelling at a particular dark haired woman -the sloe eyed medic with the pig he'd seen earlier- who was obviously injured, but refused to leave the scene. They would argue briefly whenever the blonde wasn't actively giving orders to the many ANBU and Shinobi present. The dark haired woman kept trying to get past the Hokage to re-enter the building until finally in exasperation the Hokage ordered two of the remaining medical-nin to physically carry the woman off. Interesting. He idly wondered what the story going on there was.

Hitomaru tensed for a split second when he felt another chakra approach his hiding spot, but by the time the _Ushi-_masked ANBU dropped silently at his side, Hitomaru was already languidly eating another persimmon and back to enjoying the show below. It seemed they had cleared more of the rubble and found a few more bodies judging from the muffled shouts and runnings about going on.

"You son of a bitch! This wasn't part of the plan," the Ox-masked Nin hissed in Hitomaru's ear. Hitomaru didn't even acknowledge the presence of the other shinobi at his back.

"Plans change," Hitomaru replied mildly, finishing his third persimmon and reaching for his fourth.

The _Ushi-_masked ANBU grabbed Hitomaru's wrist tightly to stop him and get his attention. "No one was supposed to get hurt, you bastard! That was the agreement. It was supposed to be a simple infiltration job and now you've fucked it up all to hell! This is all _your_ fault!" Before the man could register the movement Hitomaru had the Ox-masked shinobi on his back and pinned underneath him, Hitomaru's wicked curved blade pressed against his throat and digging in.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves with the blame game, Tsuzumi-_chan_," Hitomaru said with a nasty grin, the rain pouring down through his pale hair and over his face to drip onto Saragaku Tsuzumi's red and white _Ushi_ mask. "If you had given me _all_ the intelligence -which is really giving you way too much credit for having _any_- in the first place I wouldn't have had to improvise."

Tsuzumi swallowed carefully, Hitomaru's blade was pressed so tightly to his throat he could feel it move with the motion of his muscles. "I told you everything-" he started defensively, only to feel the blade breaking skin.

"You didn't tell me about that Mind Walker," Hitomaru snarled and Tsuzumi's eyes widened as he finally noticed the unbridled fury in Hitomaru's.

"The what...?" he said weakly. He could feel a warmth running down the sides of his neck in contrast to the cold rain that he was pretty sure was his own blood.

"The kunoichi! That blonde," Hitomaru hissed. "Why didn't you tell me you had a Mind Walker on your squad?"

"Who? Ino?" Tsuzumi puzzled. "She was just transferred in. She's useless! Ibiki's little fuck toy...she's no threat..."

"She used a mind jutsu on Chigumo-baka," Hitomaru explained as if to a child. "When I scanned him I could still sense her residual spiritual chakra. Who _is_ she?" he hissed.

"Yamanaka...Ino," Tsuzumi told him. Hitomaru groaned.

"That was a Yamanaka...?" Hitomaru ground his teeth. "Mind ninjutsu users like Yamanaka's can break _my_ jutsu's you worthless piece of shit!" Hitomaru snarled at him, his rage barely contained. "Why the _fuck_ do you think we scheduled this Op for when the Yamanaka Clan Leader was away on an A rank mission, moron! I should just cut you to ribbons now and do the Leaf a favor!" Tsuzumi's eyes bulged behind his mask in fear.

"You can't!"

Hitomaru's pale eyes narrowed as he flexed his fingers around the hilt of his blade, making sure the man below could feel it bite deeper into his skin. The wound was superficial, a shallow slash the length of Hito's dagger that would sting and irritate for days while it healed. Just a reminder to Tsuzumi of his failure, and that Hitomaru was watching.

"Give me one good reason," he told the bleeding ANBU pinned beneath him. Again, Tsuzumi swallowed carefully, doing his best to keep Hitomaru's blade from slicing deeper into his windpipe.

"I know where she lives..." Tsuzumi gasped. Hitomaru's smile was pure malice as he at last lightened his pressure on the other man's throat. His pale eyes fairly glowed in the dark as he used one hand to make the seals for his jutsu.

"Show me..."

* * *

_Elsewhere on that stormy Thursday…_

Dinner had been a low-key, pleasant affair with big bowls of Genma's one culinary success and specialty: Pumpkin curry stew. It was spicier than Ino was used to, and she'd probably had more beer than she should of as a result, but she was thoroughly impressed with his cooking skills and had told him so. Her earlier confusion about Genma and his bizarre mixed messages hadn't really been eased in the companionable quiet as they'd eaten and cleaned up. She still felt as if Genma was putting her through some strange test she didn't know the rules to, but all it would take was one glance across the table at the handsome older shinobi to remind Ino that if he was…she really didn't care. Whatever his plan was, as he sent her ahead into the living room with some beers for them…so far she was totally on board with it.

"I have something for you..."

Ino raised her eyes from her beer and smiled at Genma's playful tone as he entered the room. "Oh yeah?" she queried happily. She always liked presents. He tossed a short flattish cylinder over to where she was sitting on the couch with her legs curled underneath her and she caught it one handed without really looking. A weapon. She could tell by the weight immediately.

The _kodachi_ Genma had tossed her was white and well worn, with a distinctive design similar to the spiral tattoo of the ANBU inlaid into the scabbard in coral and a faded red cord -the _sageo- _wrapped around it. The _saya_ may have looked old and chipped, but the blade Ino drew looked new and sharp enough to cut wind. "What's this for?" she asked. Genma settled on the couch beside her and grinned as he picked up his beer.

"It's an ANBU wardrobe essential," he chuckled wryly as he took a drink. "I noticed yesterday in the hall you weren't wearing one. ANBU _always_ carry a blade."

Ino blushed at the oversight. Most full members of the ANBU (like Yuugao) wore a _Ninjaken_ on their backs with the sword's handle facing up over their shoulders to be drawn quickly. Ino hadn't really considered that as a member of the Interrogation Squad she would be expected to carry a sword...a rookie mistake obviously. The other members of Ibiki's squad did all carry shorter swords like _tantō's and kodachi's_, as she recalled. It surprised -and more than a little flattered- her that Genma had not only noticed the deficit in her uniform, but had also provided her with a proper solution. It felt like he was looking out for her, the same as with his advice about her tattoo on his birthday.

Ino's eyes flicked up to his from her admiration of the well made weapon and her musings. "Are you certain? This is...beautiful," she murmured. Genma nodded as he stretched his arms over his head briefly with a groan.

"Yeah...it's just been collecting dust around here. It'll be nice to see it get used again."

"Was it yours?" Ino asked with a curious tilt to her head. Genma had his arm resting along the back of the couch behind her as he took another sip of his beer, and just like in the bar Ino could feel her skin tingle with awareness of him. He looked down at the short sword in her lap as she sheathed the blade back into it's scabbard. "No," he said quietly, "this belonged...to another kunoichi."

"Are you sure you want me to have it?" she asked again. At his slow nod, Ino smoothed her hand over the slick surface of the _kodachi's_ _saya_ and licked her lips subtly as she debated how to proceed. She was brimming with curiosity as to who the mystery kunoichi could be. A relative? A past lover? Was it the someone he had mentioned she reminded him of? She was dying to ask, but she was having that sense with him again, of being on shifting sands and not sure how to react. Obviously the weapon had belonged to someone close to him, and now he was giving it to her. So many implications...so many mixed messages.

"I don't know what to say," she murmured, raising her eyes to his face again. "Other than thank you." His eyes were still on the blade in her hands and while his attention was elsewhere Ino impulsively leaned closer and kissed the corner of his mouth. Thankful that he was without a senbon between his lips at that precise moment. His eyes lifted to hers and he gave her a crooked grin that made her breath catch.

"You're very welcome," he said quietly. His arm came from the back of the couch to wrap around her narrow shoulders, pulling her gently into his side. Her heart skipped a little to be so close to the object of her attraction. She found it hard to meet his steady gaze and the heat rose to her cheeks again as she tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. Why was she so damn jumpy and nervous around him, she wondered. So afraid of making a fool of herself. What was it about Genma _the Man_, that made her beyond thrilled and yet absolutely terrified of what would happen next with him all at the same time?

"Any other...tricks of the trade you want to teach me?" she asked with saucy smile, trying to regain her confidence.

He chuckled. "Oh, there's plenty I can teach...if you want to learn," he told her. His calloused fingertips ghosting over her skin up under the baggy sleeve of his borrowed t-shirt to her healing tattoo and the soft skin of her shoulder. Ino closed her eyes and leaned into the caress, much as she'd done when he stroked her hair earlier, wanting more. Her head was a happy buzz of beer and growing lust, making her want to purr again.

"Like what?" When he didn't answer she opened her eyes and looked up at him, her lips parted as she gazed into his heavy lidded brown eyes.

Genma smirked slightly at the hopeful anticipation on her face and he brought the hand he'd had on her shoulder up to her hair, where he ran his fingers gently through silky blonde locks. "Well, for one thing," he told her, "you should keep this covered when in uniform...ANBU are supposed to blend in. You...you stick out."

"And that's bad?" Ino asked, bristling at the perceived criticism. She wasn't liking the sudden notion that Genma might be somehow finding her lacking as a kunoichi.

"Easy there, killer…" he chuckled in response as he tugged her back against his side and she relaxed. "I'm just saying that it's safer for us to be anonymous is all." Ino tipped him a sideways glance.

"Us who?" she queried. Without taking his arm from around her, he shifted more towards her and twisted his torso, offering his left shoulder to her. Curious, Ino leaned across his body to inspect, lifting the sleeve of his loose shirt to see the spiral mark of the ANBU inked into his golden skin. Feeling brave, she touched him, his skin soft and warm and she rubbed the pad of her thumb over the black pattern lightly, tracing it. A giddy sort of joy came over her as she tried picturing him in an ANBU uniform. All sinister deadly grace. She'd bet he was an amazing ANBU…_amazingly hot,_ and she grinned up at him.

"Yeah?" she asked happily. "You're ANBU?"

He couldn't help the major ego boost she was giving with how impressed she looked, smiling up at him like he was the King of all Fire Country. Not to mention he was definitely enjoying the way her strong slender body fit against him. Her left breast pressed into his chest as she stretched over him. "Was," he told her, "but not so much these days, though. I fill in here and there, once in a while, but I decided years ago to quit while I was still ahead and alive. Same with Raidou," he chuckled, "but then again it's also true that once you're in, you're never truly out. You'll learn about that one too I'm afraid, darlin'."

Ino bit her lower lip softly as she cut her eyes away from Genma's well formed lips to his even more well formed biceps and shoulder. She slid more of her hand up over his deltoid, the sleeve of his tee bunching at her wrist as she explored. Her fingertips ghosting over his skin and mapping out the occasional scar she came across. It was forward, what she was doing, and she could feel the heat coming to her face, but the soft hiss of the storm outside and the feel of his warmth against her wrapped her in their own little world. Genma's breath barely stirred the hair at her temple as he let her touch him. "How long have you been a Tokubetsu Jounin, Genma?" she asked. Trying to continue a conversation and not just seem like a slightly buzzed, hormonally-deranged teenager intent on feeling him up. Which, face it, she totally was. _Hello! Nineteen._ _Helloooo, dead-sexy Jounin._

"Ever since I left the Squads," he told her with a wry twist to his lips, "but it seems Sandaime and the Elders found another use for me instead."

At his ironic tone, Ino glanced up. His face was even closer than before and she could see the flecks of gold in his deep brown eyes. He had beautiful eyes…bedroom eyes. Ino was losing herself in those eyes, even as she felt awkward. Pressing into his side with her hand sliding into his shirt to the forearm to feel the muscles of his back and shoulders. And more scars too, as she felt the imperfections under her fingers. Genma eased the awkwardness as he made a sound in his throat between a groan and a sigh and wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her across his lap and fully into his embrace. She let him hold her, tucking her face into his collarbones as she inhaled deeply. She loved his smell, soap and sandalwood and a masculine spice that made her fingers twist in the back of his t-shirt where her arms were wrapped around his middle.

They were getting to the part of the evening where Ino was feeling more confident now about his intentions. _Now_ she was on firm and equal footing with her sexy, confusing, mixed-message sending jounin friend. This game she knew, and she tilted her head up, nuzzling his throat softly while he hugged her, rubbing his cheek against her hair. "What use," she breathed, her lips brushing the side of his corded neck.

One of Genma's hands slid up to cup the back of her head and tip her face up to his. "Not important," he mumbled, and closed the distance between them to kiss her softly. His broad hand gently stroking her back and pulling her even tighter to his muscled chest. Ino sighed into his kiss, his lips every bit as skilled and wonderful as she'd imagined they'd be as they moved languidly over hers. Just lovely. Even more so when he brought tongues into the party. She twisted her fingers in the back of his shirt, trying to hoist herself up closer to his face so Genma didn't have to lean over as far as she reclined in his arms. Her hip pressed into an impressively muscled thigh and an uncomfortably hard bulge. Genma's hand slid down from her spine to her backside as they kissed, shaping her ass with his palm through the scads of t-shirt fabric and loose shorts that were twisted around her. She groaned softly in appreciation as he squeezed her gently, and she could feel his quick grin against her lips before he kept up his lazy exploration of her mouth. "Mmmm…you taste sweet," Genma murmured in her ear as he moved on from her lips to scrape his teeth gently against her jaw.

Genma squeezed her again, pulling her pelvis even closer and she yelped in pain. He looked down to see that the _kodachi_ that had been in her lap had gotten wedged between their bodies and the back of the couch and the end of the scabbard was digging into Ino's lower abdomen. "I was wondering what that was poking me, " Ino said cheekily, "and here I was all ready to be even more impressed with you." Genma grinned and wagged his eyebrows at her as he pulled the _kodachi_ from between them and dropped it on the floor.

"No need to get impatient, darlin'," he told her as he leaned over her again, pressing her back to lie on the couch as he shifted over. "I'll _impress_ you soon enough." Genma's fingers walking down her side over the twisted t-shirt to the hem and he nudged at her with his chin, trying to get her to kiss him again. Ino giggled helplessly as she pressed her face to his shoulder. "What?" he teased, still burrowing into her neck to get her to face him. She shook her head, and Genma suspected it was more because she was ticklish than anything else. Slipping his hand under the end of the shirt -once he'd managed to free it from where it was cocooned around her slender torso- he splayed his hand out on her side, rubbing the edge of her ribcage with his thumb. Her skin was so soft and smooth, he loved the feel of a woman's skin and he groaned softly. "Kiss me then," he whispered, still nuzzling at her ear. Her eyes were luminous, so huge and trusting and blue as she tipped her head back to see him, he was sorry for a moment to see them slide closed, but then her sweet mouth was back on his, her tongue sweeping over his lower lip before it twined with his and then he wasn't sorry for anything as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He slid his hand around to her back and rolled them on the couch so they lay face to face, her head pillowed on his bicep and his other hand making long sweeps over the silky skin of her bare back under her t-shirt. She sighed into his kiss again and arched, pressing her chest even more firmly against his. She shifted her hips and Genma slid a muscled thigh between her legs, entwining their bodies even more. Something niggled at the edge of his attention and he pulled back from her kiss to cock his head toward the balcony. The storm was lessening, but still masked any sounds from outside. Perhaps just the wind, but he could have sworn he heard…something, and he frowned.

"Still with me?" Ino murmured, pressing light kisses along his jaw towards his lips, and he realized that he had frozen, tensed against her. "Yeah?" she questioned, her slender fingers tracing his jaw on the other side as she turned his face back to hers. She smiled at him, and what a picture of flushed and lovely perfection she was, those eyes of hers smoky with desire. She wiggled against him briefly, trying to get comfortable on the edge of the couch and he rose suddenly, pulling her up after him.

"Oh yeah," he answered her and folded his arms around her waist as he kissed her again. Her arms going around his neck as she lifted up on her toes to reach him. She groaned softly into his kiss as he ground his hips against her. It amused him that with how loud and fiesty he knew she could be, she seemed so quiet and reserved in this. "Genma," she breathed, and it was all the encouragement he needed. Quickly making hand seals behind her back, he threw up what he liked to think of as his "Fuck off, I'm busy" genjutsu, the one that would make it seem as if no one was home in case Raidou or Kakashi come nosing around looking for him to go drinking or something. Sliding his hands down to Ino's delectable ass he hiked her up, picking her off the floor as his genjutsu shimmered down over the windows and balcony doors. She gave a little squeak of surprise that he thought was pretty adorable and wrapped those long legs of hers around his hips tightly.

"I don't believe I've shown you the rest of my place yet," Genma told her with a positively wicked grin as he took her into his bedroom. Ino's grin was even more devious than his as she reached over his shoulder and pushed the bedroom door shut behind them.

Neither of them noticed the two ANBU that appeared on the balcony moments later to peer in, and then flicker away.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

The rain had thoroughly darkened the Tsunade's green coat, making the cold fabric stick to her skin in an irritating way, but the thunderous scowl on the blonde Sannin's face had nothing to do with her wet clothing as she watched Raidou and Asuma help with bringing out more debris from the basement interrogation room. No, her biggest source of general irritation -on top of her unbridled _fury _that someone had decided to blow up half of ANBU HQ- was her assistant who had once _AGAIN_ defied her orders to take herself off to the hospital and was trying to slink back onto the scene, having ditched the medic-nin's Tsunade had specifically instructed to escort her to be checked out. _Honestly, what was wrong her?_ From Tsunade's first cursory triage, her assistant was suffering from a possible concussion and broken arm, she should be in the hospital being treated. Or barring that if she felt so good she should be _at the hospital_ helping Sakura treat the injured. Either way, she didn't need Shizune _HERE _getting underfoot.

"Goddamn it!" she snarled under her breath. She'd find a way to make Shizune stay put if she had to tie her up herself. "I need an ANBU!" she barked, and within seconds she was surrounded by four silent masked figures and a plain-clothsed Yuugao. She almost smirked at their efficiency. At least _someone_ remembered who was the Hokage around here. She peeled off her soaked jacket with disgust and dropped it in the mud at her feet where Ton-Ton was snuffling around unhappily.

"You," she snapped, pointing at an _Uma_-masked ANBU to her left. "Inform the Elders."

"At once, Tsunade-sama," the ANBU replied before disappearing.

"You, You and You," she continued to the next three in line. "I want this area locked down. No Civilians in or out." The ANBU in question vanished with the barest of nods. "Yuugao!" she barked, her temper getting the best of her as she noticed Shizune trying to slip past Raidou again and re-enter the damaged building. "Keep _HER,_" she snarled with a finger extended in Shizune's direction, "out of my sight! Preferably _AT THE HOSPITAL!_" the Hokage roared the last at the top of her lungs. She couldn't very well hit something to vent her anger and frustration, so all Tsunade had at that moment was volume.

Shizune at least had the good sense to look terrified as she heard Tsunade's voice reverberate, not dampened by the rain one bit. Yuugao flickered over to Shizune's side where she began to gently try and lead her away. Shizune kept arguing and pointing to the building with her uninjured arm. Yuugao nodded sympathetically, but Tsunade noticed that the violet-haired ANBU still kept calmly herding Shizune back down the street toward the Hospital.

"And SOMEONE," Tsunade yelled over the din of the rescue efforts, "find out what's taking Izumo and Kotetsu so long with my On Duty List!" Kurenai, who had been standing nearby Asuma as he leaned over to catch his breath from the heavy lifting of debris, made eye contact with her and with a nod disappeared to find Tsunade's wayward Admin's. Satisfied for the moment Tsunade fisted her hands on her hips and surveyed the progress.

It was ugly. Whatever Someone had planted the explosive tags knew what they were doing. Initial reports from those ANBU only mildly injured said that the blast had gone in a ring, starting in the Interrogation Room and then spreading outwards. Neji -who had luckily escaped with only minor wounds- had told her about the Ex-Suna shinobi Chigumo's attempted suicide and Ibiki and _Tora-taicho_'s response and summons to the medics. It was a classic trap, lure as many personnel in as possible and then _BOOM_. Tsunade scowled harder. Six confirmed dead so far, Ibiki's subordinate Tatami Iwashi among them and they hadn't even gotten to the Interrogation Room itself yet. She had a feeling there would be more before morning. Possibly even Ibiki himself who was still among the missing.

"Tsunade-sama…" A breathless Izumo and Kotetsu appeared by her side along with Kurenai. "The List…" Izumo offered the file to her and she snatched it from him with a glare.

"About fucking time!" she snapped. Before she could even scan half of the list of On Duty ANBU, a shrill whistle pierced the air. Her head snapped up to see Asuma wildly waving her over from the doorway of the building moments before a stretcher carrying a heavily scarred bald man was carried out by Aoba and a harried and pale medic. "Ibiki!" she gasped and ran to where her Torture specialist was being evacuated from the destruction. "Condition?" she demanded of the medic-nin, even as her eyes were cataloguing his injuries for herself. _Oh God! So bad…Ibiki…._

"Critical, Tsunade-sama," the medic stammered. "He was under a huge portion of the..wall…we almost missed him." He was making a clicking sound in his throat as he swallowed convulsively.

Tsunade's eyes snapped up briefly to see the medic turning a pasty shade of green. "Asuma!" she snapped, and without a word the bearded Jounin took the end of the stretcher from the medic before the nin dropped the severely injured man. The medic dropped onto the ground in the mud and stuck his head between his knees before he passed out.

"I-I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama…I've never," he swallowed again and looked up at her helplessly. "I've never seen anything like that before..."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes and looked from the medic to Aoba and then Asuma, even as she ran healing chakra through her hands trying to triage the worst of Ibiki's wounds. Asuma was looking a little pale himself. "How bad," she asked the bearded jounin in a much gentler tone than her expression.

"There's...at least three or four more in there. We won't know how many exactly until we can…find everything," Asuma told her quietly. At his words the medic nin on the ground scrambled over to a nearby pile of debris and noisily lost his dinner.

Under her hands Ibiki stirred, regaining consciousness in a bellow of pain that almost set her teeth on edge. She pushed more chakra into him, trying to repair crushed bones and organs and stabilize him. "Ibiki-kun!" the scream came from behind her and before Tsunade knew it Shizune was at Ibiki's side, her panicked eyes running over him in frantic jerks. Shakily, Shizune put her hands onto Ibiki's abdomen, earning a loud moan of pain from him for her efforts. Tears filled Shizune's eyes and she sobbed as she tried to summon her healing chakra and failed due to her own injuries. Tsunade growled again in frustration with the situation even as she continued pumping green medical chakra into the critically injured jounin.

"What the hell is she still doing here?" Tsunade yelled, pinning Yuugao and Kurenai with a pointed glare as the two women again tried to keep Shizune back. "Hey! Idiot!" she snapped at Shizune until the sloe-eyed medic finally looked at her in shock. "You are NO help to me here like this! So either get your head on straight and get your ass over to that hospital or so help me I am going to knock you into orbit!"

"Shizune, please…" Kurenai murmured as she and Yuugao tried to pull the stunned woman away from Ibiki's stretcher.

"He saved me!" Shizune cried, her tear filled eyes locking with her mentor's, the woman she'd left her home and family to follow. "I would not be alive now if Ibiki hadn't pushed me clear! Do you _get that_?" Shizune screamed angrily, raising her voice to her master for the first time. Tsunade's golden brown eyes met the deep black of her beloved friend and _kohai's _and held them.

"I'm going to do everything I can. You understand me…?" she told the younger woman gently. "_Everything." _Appeased, Shizune dropped her challenging eyes from Tsunade's with a weary nod and she let Yuugao and Kurenai lead her away to be treated at last. The hospital was where Ibiki was headed after all and likely to be there for a long time provided Tsunade could stabalize him. "Where are the medics?" Tsunade demanded.

"On their way, Tsunade-sama," Kotetsu answered from somewhere behind her. Ibiki began to convulse as his eyes rolled up in his head and he began weakly choking on the blood that was slowly filling up his lungs.

"Shit!" Tsunade clenched her teeth as blood splattered her face from Ibiki's weak struggles. "We're gonna lose him here if we don't move!" she ordered. "We can't wait for the medics! Let's go!"

"Tsu-….Tsunade-sa…" Ibiki tried to gasp through his mouthful of blood as Aoba and Asuma hustled him as quickly and smoothly down the road to the hospital as they could with her running alongside, still pumping chakra into his internal organs.

"Don't talk!" she told him through gritted teeth. They passed a wide-eyed Shizune and her escort in the street and Ton-Ton broke off from following Tsunade to join her assistant. She felt a weak scrabble of fingers on her arm and looked down to see Ibiki trying to clutch at her. Terrified he may do more damage to himself she called out to Kotetsu, "hold him! Do NOT let him move!" The spiky-haired chuunin was right there to run along side the stretcher opposite of her, gently holding the larger jounin down. Ibiki spat out the mouthful of blood and weakly sucked air into his lungs, his eyes rolling toward hers. "Hang in there, Morino! Don't you dare quit on me!" she demanded.

"Ino…" Ibiki said weakly, holding her eyes with his before they slid closed. "In...I-Ino…"

"What did he say?" Asuma demanded, almost stumbling in his shock. "What the hell did he just say?" The sudden worry on the Sarutobi's face sharpening his features. Tsunade frowned and shook her head, then her eyes widened as she made the connection.

"Izumo!" she yelled, "Who of Ibiki's squad was on shift tonight?" She could hear Izumo rustling through the file behind her as they at last met up with the medics, busting ass to answer her summons. After a quick transfer and some hurried instructions the medics swiftly whisked Ibiki away to prep him for surgery. Tsunade paused long enough to take the Duty file from the stunned chuunin at her side. The smell of cigarette smoke behind her told her without looking that Asuma was peering over her shoulder. She scanned the list of names and status quickly: Sarugaku Tsuzumi - off duty - unaccounted for; Mimura Hamase - on duty medic - missing/presumed deceased; Tatami Iwashi - on duty - confirmed deceased; Yamanaka Ino - on duty - missing/unaccounted for. She heard Asuma's sharp intake of breath as he reached the last name of the duty roster. _Oh dear God, no… _

_"Ino!" _Before Tsunade could stop him the bearded jounin had taken off, running back to the site where there were still unidentified victims. Hoping against hope one of those mangled bodies wasn't his former student.

* * *

_Author's Note P.S.:_

_Thanks muchly for all the patience. I know it has been a long time, but…I was stuck, and now I finally seem unstuck. So barring getting stuck again (crossing fingers), updates should be coming much more regularly. Already at work on the next part! _

_'Til then! Reviews are lovely and appreciated, but not required. ^_^_


	8. Stirring Up The Past

_AN: This is a derivative work of fiction based on Naruto. Which is obviously not owned by me. This story is kind of like what it would be if it was._

_Canon and I have parted ways forever now..._

* * *

_Konoha, 4:30 am Friday._

Nara Shikamaru stifled what seemed like the fiftieth inappropriate yawn of that night by clenching his teeth together tightly so that the only outward sign of his fatigue was the tightening and relaxing of his throat. He'd been at the scene of the ANBU HQ explosion since nearly two am, when his father had dragged him from a deep, pleasant, dream filled sleep into this…_nightmare_.

He stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets as he watched Chouji and his father, Chouza - along with several other Akimichi Clansmen- make short work of clearing away the last of the debris from the explosion. The building was now safe to enter thanks to a _Moukuton _jutsu from Yamato, who had shorn up all the damaged load bearing walls and floors above the basement HQ. On Duty Shinobi were finally being able to make their way back into the building to access the damage to other areas as well as securing vital records and scrolls.

The Interrogation Room itself was still off-limits, however. Shikamaru had been allowed in, as he'd been told that the Council was going to expect his analysis of what had happened in there, and he'd seen the damage and the bodies…or what was left of them before the medics took the remains to the morgue for identification. It was nothing short of horrific. The depressing windowless room had looked like someone had half-heartedly decided to paint it red and had done the job by dropping a lit exploding tag into a vat of paint. _Great, there's another visual that's going to stick with me, _he grimaced at the mental image and was glad for about the tenth time since he'd seen the carnage that Chouji had not.

It was bad enough Asuma had. Their ex-sensei had paced and chain-smoked nearly constantly since he'd learned there was a possibility that Ino was one of the dead in that room. Asuma had been so jittery and irritable since there was no way to immediately identify if any of the remains the medics carried away in a basket had been Ino, that Shikaku - whom Tsunade had left in charge when she went to the hospital to work on Ibiki - had finally told Kurenai to drag him home. It wasn't like there was anything he could do then to speed up the identification process.

Shikamaru heard his father sigh heavily as he joined him. The rain had stopped around three am and the clouds had parted to reveal the moon, full and glimmering down on the wet and silent streets.

"Any news on Morino-san?" Shikamaru asked. Shikaku shook his head.

"Tsunade-sama is still with him. It's probably going to be hours before we know if he's gonna make it. What a mess." Shikamaru grunted in agreement. The _only_ eyewitness that had actually been in the Interrogation Room and he was still hovering between life and death. A mess indeed.

Shikaku looked over at his son to see his brows beetled in thought as he stared fixedly at the Hokage Tower. "What are you thinking?" Shikaku asked neutrally enough, but Shikamaru knew what his father was after…it had been on his mind constantly since he'd viewed the scene.

"The outer tags were likely to have been set off by wires. Intel says the explosion started in the Interrogation Room so something in there was the trigger. The blast didn't go off until they were all in there and there's no way whoever set the trap would stay in there with them and blow themselves up too, unless they're a complete idiot. Which I doubt. The person that did this was no idiot…" Shikamaru frowned thoughtfully as he trailed off.

"Follow that line of reasoning…"

Shikamaru scowled even more as a red and teary-eyed Chouji joined them. He really didn't want to discuss the details in front of the Akimichi, who seemed to be taking the possibility that Ino had been killed pretty hard, but he didn't have much choice in the matter. He knew Shikaku was asking for his analysis as the Jounin in charge at the moment. Not as his father. "For the explosion to be triggered by the ANBU's entrance into the room then something had to draw them in. From what I heard there was a prisoner the ANBU were working on that attempted suicide. He was discovered and the medics were summoned…" Shikamaru's eyes widened and then narrowed and he slanted a look at his father from the corner of his eye. "The medical chakra was the trigger?"

His father dipped his head in assent. "That's my conclusion as well."

"I don't understand," Chouji butted in suddenly. "You're saying that..that a _person_ was the bomb? How can _that _ happen?"

Shikamaru sighed wearily. He really didn't want to go here with Chouji, especially with the way his larger friend's eyes kept welling over with tears. All for Ino. _You troublesome woman…_ he thought to himself, _you'd better not be dead._

"It's easy enough, Chouji," Shikamaru answered quietly. "Enough explosive tags and anything will blow up. There was likely an accelerant used as well. Something to react with the carbon in the body."

Chouji paled. Shikamaru could sympathize…he'd _seen_ the results, not just imagined it. "Who…who would do something like that to themselves?" Chouji wondered aloud. Shikaku grunted dismissively at the same time Shikamaru scoffed.

"Tsk! Use your head, Cho…someone did it _to_ him. No way a prisoner of ANBU would get out of the holding room, plant tags all over the HQ and _himself _then fake a suicide attempt just to lure in the ANBU on duty and the medics. There's more to it than that," he told him. At the mention of 'ANBU on duty' -to him meaning _Ino_- Chouji's tears spilled from his eyes to run down over the swirl tattoos on his cheeks.

Shikaku sighed heavily again. "This is going to be a pain," the Elder Nara grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets in a mirror of his son.

"Hn," Shikamaru concurred. Chouji looked back and forth between the two Naras in confusion.

"What?"

"I'd best inform the council and Tsunade-sama at once," Shikaku said. "They're going to want to sanction restrictions on leaving the Village as well as background checks. Troublesome…" with that Shikamaru's father left them, ostensibly to set the wheels in motion. Shikamaru slouched even more in defiance once his sire had left. Things had nearly returned to normal at the tower by now. The only signs being the pile of rubble and debris that had been pushed off to one side and a few more shinobi than usual milling around, given the hour. It felt as if the rest of the Village itself had fallen back into an uneasy sleep.

"What did he mean, Shikamaru?" Chouji asked him again. Shikamaru made another _tsk-_ing sound between his teeth and tipped his head back to look at the night sky.

"You ever been inside ANBU HQ, Chouji?" he asked, "before tonight that is?" The Akimichi shook his head in the negative as he swiped at the wetness on his cheeks with his sleeve.

"No. Of course not."

"Me neither. I never even knew that room existed before tonight. I mean, I knew ANBU had their HQ in the Tower, but I never knew where," Shikamaru said thoughtfully. "Only ANBU know how to get in," he finished, then waited for Chouji to catch up. Chouji wasn't stupid, he just often took the long way around to get to where Shikamaru could be in a heartbeat.

"Wait…" Chouji started, and Shikamaru nodded his head.

"Either it was one of them, or someone good enough to pass for one," Shikamaru supplied. _Dad was right, how troublesome…a possible conspiracy in the ANBU, and naturally there's Ino with her obnoxious blonde self right smack in the middle of it, _he thought. _I told her so. _At his side, Chouji sniffed loudly.

"Poor Ino-chan…" he said sadly. "Why'd this have to happen to her? I just can't stop thinking about how we just saw her! She said…she missed me. The last thing she said to us was…'_I love you guys'_…and now she's gone."

Shikamaru shook his head dismissively as he continued to study the stars above. "No. It's fine, Cho…"

Chouji turned incredulous eyes toward the Shadow Wielder. "How can you say that? You heard what Asuma-sensei said! Ino was on duty! She was in that building!" Fresh tears fell freely again from the Akimichi's eyes as he thought about their blonde teammate, so alive and happy earlier that evening. Was that really the last time Chouji would ever see her? Chouji sobbed quietly. He hadn't seen the interior of the room where she allegedly was killed, but he'd seen Shikamaru's face and Asuma's as well as the others and it was killing him to think that his friend had met her end that way.

Shikamaru's typical grouchy frown was firmly in place when he lowered his head from stargazing. "It's a mistake. You'll see. She's fine."

"But Shika…" Chouji whined, and Shikamaru turned on him. His expression suddenly furious.

"She's _not dead!_" Shikamaru snapped at him, then looked away at Chouji's shocked expression. "She's not dead, Chouji. I think I'd know it if she was…and I don't think she is," he repeated in a calmer tone. "Remember? She didn't stick around to eat with us tonight because she had somewhere to be, right?" Chouji nodded readily in agreement, ready to grasp at any theory because the alternative he couldn't bear.

"But Shikamaru, they checked out her place…there was no one there. Where else could she be?" Chouji questioned, giving voice to his last worry lest he get his hopes too far up.

Shikamaru snorted derisively. "Knowing her? Probably someplace she shouldn't be."

* * *

_A few hours earlier..._

Sweating and spent, Genma rolled off of Ino to flop onto the bed beside her and catch his breath. She was still wearing that cheeky and mildly devious look on her face that'd made him abandon all good sense and screw her in the first place -_twice_- but now that look was also tempered with satisfaction from his job well done.

"So?" he asked, once he'd caught his breath.

"Hmmm?" Ino looked over at him, her short hair mussed and falling over her eyes. Inoichi must have thrown an absolute shit-fit when she cut it off, because Ino was the only Yamanaka shinobi Genma had ever seen without that mile long streamer of hair. Male _or_ female. It was like a Yamanaka trademark. Then again, Ino was also the only _female_ Yamanaka shinobi he'd ever seen. Still, he thought the shorter style suited her personality well and he rolled on his side to brush the hair from her eyes before he leaned over and kissed her.

"You were impressed, yes?" he murmured against her lips. Ino let her smile spread as she cocked her head more toward him.

"Oh yes, several times."

He leaned down and let the peak of her full breast slide between his lips back and forth before he closed them around her areola and gave her a smacking kiss. Enjoying the way the low light of the room caught the moisture left from his mouth and he blew across her nipple, watching the way it tightened and her skin goose-fleshed. "Good," he rumbled. Reaching across her to his nightstand -since she was sprawled in delectable post-coital bliss on his side- he fished a senbon off the surface and stuck it between his lips before he lay back, folding his arms behind his head. He heard an amused snort and glanced over at his bed partner again. She'd rolled on her side to watch him as she rested her head on her hand. "Hn?" he grunted.

"I'm surprised you were able to go as long as you did without one of those in your mouth," Ino teased. He grinned back, the senbon between his teeth wagging up and down suggestively.

"My mouth was otherwise happily occupied, thank you," he informed. When she blushed he grinned even more. He had this almost perverse love of throwing Ino off balance and watching how she responded. "And will be again soon, I assure you," he promised as he let his eyes sweep the length of her nude body before lingering at the apex of her thighs, the place guaranteed to get the best reaction from her and he licked his lips lasciviously. She didn't disappoint him as her blush grew to epic levels and she rolled onto her stomach to hide her red face in the pillow. He chuckled at her, in his mind, completely unnecessary embarrassment and he rolled after her, letting his eyes have their fill of her body from the vulnerable nape of her neck down all the way to the soles of her feet.

Genma leaned closer and let the tip of the senbon between his lips drag lightly over her skin along her spine. Her breath caught in surprise, but Genma was a master with his chosen weapon and she felt nothing but the barest whisper touch of the needle. "C-careful…" she whispered, holding herself unnaturally still as if she were afraid he would draw blood. _She of so little faith…_

"Shhh…" he hushed, and then sliding the senbon to the corner of his mouth he followed the same sensuous trail slowly up her spine with his tongue. He'd already given the other side of her body a lingering and thorough exploration with his mouth, now he was ready for the other. She exhaled with a breathy little whine, her back arching as he alternated between stroking her back with the senbon and his tongue. He nipped the sensitive skin at the nape of her neck with his teeth when he got there and she twisted to peer over her arm at him. He smiled back at her and moved to kiss her, but she drew back, her eyes glued to the end of the senbon.

"I don't want you putting my eye out," she scolded him, and Genma chuckled throatily.

"Never happen. You would be _amazed_, darlin' at all the things I can do with a senbon still in my mouth," he promised. Just to show off a little more for her, he leaned down and gently traced the outline of the nearly healed spiral tattoo on her shoulder with his senbon. Raising his eyes to hers and holding them he repeated his earlier pattern of setting his senbon aside at the corner of his mouth to use his tongue.

"Wow. You really _are_ multi-talented…" she told him and he could see a sly sliver of teeth in her cheeky grin. Genma kissed her temple, then rolled over onto his side to rest his head in the curve of her lower back and close his eyes, just enjoying her warmth and companionship. It was one of the first things he'd noticed about her back when Yuugao had started inviting her around. Sure, she was beautiful and snarky and a talented kunoichi if Ibiki'd tapped her for his Squad, but aside from the kick he got from keeping her guessing, he'd found that he also just plain enjoyed being around her.

That wasn't like him though. It wasn't the way he did things.

It wasn't to say that he went without female company, quite the opposite. He'd gotten a bit of a reputation with the kunoichi's of Konoha (and a few other villages as well) for being a bed hopper. It was mostly exaggeration, but every rumor had a kernel of truth in it. His kernel of truth was that he avoided attachments like they were the plague. He much preferred keeping things casual. One night stands were best for keeping women from getting serious with him, and it was _always_ at their place or some other neutral ground hence his reputation. He liked his freedom and his personal space.

He didn't…_date._

So the fact that he'd not only invited Ino into his home, but into his bed too, had surprised the hell out of him even as he was doing it, but it wasn't stopping him from enjoying the benefits as he cuddled with the young blonde.

"It's getting late," Ino said softly, when they'd lain in comfortable silence long enough for him to nearly fall asleep from his musings. Genma cracked his eyes open, but he couldn't see more in the dim light from his bedside lamp than the curve of her back and shoulders.

"Hmm.." he mumbled noncommittally, sliding a hand under her body between her belly and the bed as he used her for a pillow. "You have to go?"

"Well, I…" she said softly. "I'm not on duty until later, but I…I don't want to keep you from sleeping…or anything." At her shy tone his eyes fully opened and he moved, rolling up to lie next to her and check her expression as she rested her chin on her folded arms. She wasn't meeting his eyes, so he couldn't tell if her timid response was a kind of shy invitation for more sex or what.

"Ino?" he queried softly. Her eyes jerked over to his and then slid away as she bit her lower lip. He tucked her hair behind her ear so he could see her face, but she still wasn't looking at him.

"I suppose this isn't very well done of me at all is it?" she laughed self-consciously. "I'm not sure what the proper etiquette is here…I- I suppose I should go?" she trailed off.

It was this, this other side of Ino when she showed her vulnerability and innocence that endeared her to him in a way no one else had in a very long time. It was also what brought out that evil streak in him that wanted to tease her though too.

"You can't go yet," he told her as he leaned on her. "I never actually started the clothes dryer."

"So you planned this?"

He gazed up at her from where he was lightly rubbing the beard stubble on his chin against her shoulder. "The rain?" he asked innocently. She rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. He leaned on an elbow and stroked her shoulder thoughtfully as he gazed at the graceful dip of her lower back. "No," he told her quietly, "I didn't plan on this."

Genma never tore his gaze away from her body until he felt her gentle touch as she took the senbon from between his lips to set it aside. Once his mouth was free, he leaned over to kiss and nuzzle at the delicate skin of her lower back. Ino's body was toned and strong, but her skin was so soft and smooth, what few scars she had were faint and well healed. Like him, whose body reflected a life spent on the front lines, Ino's told of the kind of work she'd done for Konoha: Intelligence and Espionage. Ino was a spy, not a soldier, and Genma could already mourn the loss of that beautiful blemish-free skin of hers if she remained with the ANBU for too long. "So soft," he murmured as he slid even lower. He wasn't really trying to start up round three of the evening just yet, but he just couldn't help himself from wanting to touch her.

"Who's this?" Ino asked, and Genma glanced up to see she was propped up on her elbows and gazing at the picture frames he had on the shelf behind his bed. The discarded senbon held between her fingers like a cigarette. Genma glanced at the photos and felt a mild unease. He didn't really like discussing his past under the best of circumstances, but while he had a hot young blonde in his bed, he wanted to talk about it even less. "Is this your genin team?" she asked when he didn't bother answering, just busied himself with the canvas of loveliness underneath his hands and mouth. "How old were you here? You were so cute!"

"Ten," he mumbled into her skin. He never really looked at any of the photos any more, they'd been a fixture of his room for so long. Most brought up memories he didn't want to think much about, like the fact that the boy Ino was finding so adorable was the only one from that picture still alive, for one. He heard the soft click of her setting the senbon down on the shelf and felt her stretch underneath him as she reached to pick up one of the other frames. He knew which one too even before she half rolled underneath him to lean on her elbow. He could feel those pupilless blue eyes of hers regarding him.

It was the picture of he, Hayate, Yuugao, and Shiori taken nearly ten years earlier. The four of them clowning around for the camera with goofy grins and peace signs, and Genma's arms thrown over their shoulders. It had been a happy day, the day he'd been appointed to Tokubetsu Jounin.

"Is this her?" Ino asked him softly, and his gaze went immediately to her face. He often forgot in his defining of Ino in his head; beautiful, blonde, fiesty, sexy, _young_…just how fucking astute she was too. He kept overlooking the fact that Ibiki had made her his apprentice for a reason. "The _kodachi_ kunoichi?"

"Yeah," was all he could bring himself to say, and was glad when her gaze returned to the photo.

"Yuugao-senpai," Ino identified, her finger hovering over the glass momentarily before moving on to the man with his arms wrapped tightly around the laughing violet-haired kunoichi. "Gekkou Hayate-san, right? I remember him a little," she said. At his nod she continued on, "I know this smirking guy with the senbon," she teased gently before at last indicating the smiling, raven-haired woman flipping a peace sign in the photo, her arm slung around Genma's waist as his was thrown over her shoulder.

"Gekkou Shiori," Genma supplied quietly and took the photo from Ino when she offered it. Ino lay down again, folding her arm to pillow her head on it as she watched him.

"Who was she?" she asked. And really, wasn't _that _just the million ryo question? He could be an ass and point out just the obvious that she was Hayate's sister, but he shouldn't be that harsh to Ino. She was just curious, and he had been the one to bring her into his private space after all. He couldn't exactly fault her for having questions, no matter how uncomfortable they made him.

"My fiancée," he answered, deciding on the truth. "And Hayate's elder sister. She was in ANBU the same time that I was. She was…an excellent kunoichi." How odd he found it to try to sum into four sentences everything that Shiori had been.

"What happened to her?" Ino prompted gently, pulling him from his musing. He laughed sardonically.

"What happens to us all eventually, darlin'…that one mission we don't come back from. It was supposed to be the last one before we got married. Then she was going to step down from ANBU and we were going to just have a regular normal life. Regular missions, a house, kids…maybe get a dog. Instead, she died three days before the wedding and that was the end of that." Genma set the picture back on the shelf with a snap of finality. He could see the one visible eyebrow of Ino's going up at his derisive tone out of the corner of his eye, but he chose to ignore it. He'd said all he planned to on the subject, which to her unknown benefit was a lot more than usual.

"I'm sorry." Her softly spoken sympathy was _so_ not what he needed to hear just then.

"It's okay," he told her gruffly. "We should probably get some sleep." He was tempted to roll over away from her and completely shut out the previous discussion and how Ino's sympathy made him feel like a bitter old man, but he could also see the way she was softly biting her lower lip and the rumple of concern on her face.

"I didn't know, Genma. I wouldn't have asked…" she started to say, and he cut her off with a curt nod as he stared up at the ceiling with his arms folded over his muscled chest. He also really wanted to chew viciously on a senbon, but he was sensitive enough to know that it too would be a brush off to the blonde. "And you didn't have to give it to me, you know…" Genma finally looked at her at the soft despair in her voice.

"What?"

"The _kodachi…_ I don't know why you would give that to me…" Ino said. Genma shrugged.

"It's a blade. You need one. I had one. Problem solved."

"But...it was _hers_…"

"So?"

"Genma…" Ino sighed, and he could hear the note of frustration in her voice. "If she was important to you, you shouldn't just give her sword away." He frowned, his temper getting the best of him.

"It's just a _thing,_ Ino! It's not her! She's never coming back, and hanging on to useless _stuff_, just because it belonged to her isn't going to change that fact. She's in here…" he said sharply, tapping his head, "…and here," he repeated on his chest over his heart. "That's good enough."

He refolded his arms over his chest and continued scowling up at the ceiling. Bringing up Shiori was always dangerous territory with him, most of his friends -especially Yuugao- knew better and never did it, just because of how curtly and effectively he could shut them down. Like he'd just done to poor Ino. He saw her sit up beside him slowly and lower her legs over the side of the bed. She looked so young to him at times, that he was reminded she hadn't had the same experiences growing up that he'd had. Konoha had been at war when he was her age, but she'd grown up in a time of peace. He'd lost so many people who were important to him; his parents, his sensei, his team, Hayate, Shiori… Ino was different. She hadn't had to grow callouses on her heart just to survive the way he had. That wasn't her fault, and he was a right bastard for taking it out on her, too.

"Okay," she said softly. "I…appreciate you giving it to me then. And in spite of what you say with your words, Genma…I will do my very best to be a kunoichi worthy of her blade. Of _her_."

He caught his breath, and she looked over her shoulder at him with a little smile. Ino and Shiori were nothing alike in their looks. Ino was as fair as Shiori had been dark. Even their personalities weren't _that_ much alike, but what knocked him on his ass was the singular way they both had of getting past his defenses and making him _feel_. In that way, Ino _was_ just like Shiori. "Ino…" he started, feeling guilty.

"I'm guessing you probably want to be alone now, right? I'll just l-"

Before she could finish and rise, Genma reached out and closed his large hand over her delicate wrist. Tugging her back down onto the bed with him and he pulled her over on top of him to lie on his chest. He folded his arms around her, pinning her against him and he buried his face in her neck.

"No," he told her, muffled against her throat. "I want you right here. I'm sorry. She's a…really touchy subject with me and talking about it always makes me a grouchy bastard. I'm so sorry…don't go." He held her tightly, waiting to see if she would pull away. In all the years since Shiori had been killed, he'd never been in this kind of position of vulnerability. There was so much about this whole night with Ino that made _him_ feel like he was the one off balance, he didn't like the feeling, but he knew that he liked _her_. Ino was someone he wanted to keep in his life, she'd become a friend. He'd hate it if he pushed her away now just because he had a tendency to become a moody son of a bitch whenever he talked about the past. He felt her arms go around him the best they could with the way he was clutching at her and he let out the breath he hadn't been aware he was holding.

"If you're sure you want me to be here…" she whispered unsurely.

"Right here," he confirmed, grinning in relief against her neck, "and then maybe a little to the left. And try some up and down motion too. That would be good…" he joked, because it always was his best defense. He saw her eyes flash at him as she pulled back to look at him and he could see the relief in them, even as she tried to look exasperated.

"You!" she sighed, "you really are just…impossible." Genma grinned at her, he just couldn't help himself.

"I know," he agreed, "I really am."

* * *

_ANBU Locker Room, 5:04 am, Friday._

In the pre-dawn solace of the locker room, Namiashi Raidou slowly donned ANBU gear for the first time in nearly twelve years. In fact, the last time he'd been in uniform was when he'd gotten the distinctive burn scars on his left side. Lightning jutsu…couldn't say he'd be eager to face down one of those again ever. He also wasn't sure if he was ready to wear the mask again, but with so many ANBU dead and injured, word had come down from Tsunade -via Shikaku, since the Godaime was still cloistered at the hospital treating the critically injured- that all those former ANBU able to serve would be required to fill in temporarily until those who were only injured could return to duty. He wasn't really being given a choice in the matter.

He firmly believed that Genma should have to be here suffering along with him, because if he was going to get pulled back into the shit, he sure as hell didn't want to do it alone. However, it seemed his senbon-chewing partner in crime was no where to be found. Raidou scowled as he tugged the sleeveless black turtleneck down over his scarred torso, that lucky bastard had probably found himself some willing bed partner for the night after his little "date" with Ino was over, and had missed the summons delivered to his apartment. Now Raidou was going to get sent out with a bunch of snot-nosed kids who'd probably been in the Academy the last time he'd worn the mask, while Genma was off getting laid. Completely unfair. Wondering about his friend's whereabouts was just putting him in a fouler mood as it reminded him of his argument with Yuugao and how it had spoiled his own plans for the night.

His back stiffened when he heard someone enter the locker room and catch their breath at the sight of him. He never liked exposing how much of his left side was scarred -and the ANBU uniform did little to hide the burn scars on his arm and shoulder that now obscured his ANBU tattoo- so he yanked on the long glove and forearm protector quickly before he looked to see who was there. Almost as if his thoughts had summoned her, it was Yuugao who stood behind him, her dark eyes huge in her pale face.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked, her voice catching as she clutched at the neckline of her shirt, her knuckles white. Raidou tried not to frown at her, but their argument and her resultant distance the rest of the night even as they'd worked side by side to help find the survivors still grated at him.

"What's it look like? Going on patrol," he said matter of factly as he turned back to his locker to finish suiting up. He heard her as she moved behind him to her own locker, but she made no move to open it or change clothes. He could still feel her eyes on him, watching as he fastened the forearm protector onto his right arm. Her silence and stillness was starting make him feel self-conscious and he glanced at her quickly over his shoulder. "You don't have to wait on me to finish, I've seen it all before, remember?"

She was still just staring at him, a look in her dark eyes like he'd never seen before and he paused in fastening his white armored vest. "Yuu-chan?" he murmured, concern now pulling his half-ruined face into a frown. She just blinked at him.

_"You?"_

Raidou tried not to be taken aback by her question, or the perceived disbelief in her tone. Why _not_ him? He'd been _in_ the damn Squads when _Yuugao_ was just a snot-nosed brat at the Academy. He'd also been part of the Sandaime's personal guard, which everyone seemed to forget when assigning him bullcrap missions. He may be a little long in the tooth for a return to Black Ops, but he wasn't fucking _useless._

"Well, with over half the available guys in the hospital I guess they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for replacements. They'd probably have Genma out there too if they could find the bastard," Raidou muttered sarcastically. Yuugao paled even more and Raidou couldn't help feeling insulted she seemed so shocked that he'd been temporarily reinstated. "I might be out of practice, but I'm pretty sure I can keep your '_old man'_ here from getting himself killed on a simple _patrol."_

In the next second, before he could even turn around to see her, his face was nearly slammed into the locker in front of him from the force of Yuugao's body colliding with his. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind as she practically spot-welded herself to him, her face pressed into his back between his shoulder blades as she held him tightly. "Yuugao…what the hell?" he bit out, as he pushed himself off the locker he'd nearly been face planted into if he hadn't gotten an arm up in time. He tried twisting to see her, but Yuugao had him in a death grip as she clung like a burr. He could feel her lips moving against his back where she had her face pressed against him, but he couldn't hear what she was whispering. He could easily break her hold on him -ANBU or not- he still had a good fifty pounds on her and almost a half a foot in height, but even though he was annoyed and hurt, he didn't want to physically restrain the woman he loved more than anything.

"Yuu-chan… Honey, let up," he said quietly, trying to keep his tone calm and gentle. He folded his arms over hers and held the hands she had fisted tightly in the front of his vest. Slowly she loosened her grip on him enough that he could turn around to face her before she reattached to him, burying her face in his chest. He could hear her now too, as she whispered _no_ over and over, like a litany. "Yuu…what's wrong?"

He cupped the back of her violet head in his gloved hand and tilted it back to look at her face. What he saw there stunned him and made any residual anger or resentment he'd had from earlier evaporate. She was clearly terrified. He'd never seen her like this before, her dark eyes unfocused and glassy with tears as she clung to him. "Shhh…" he soothed, combing his fingers through her long purple hair gently. "I'll be fine. It's not like I've never taken a mission before…" he murmured. Yuugao whipped her head back and forth in the negative, her hair covering her face like a veil.

"Namiashi-san," a voice from the doorway said, "it's time to go."

Raidou didn't even look up as he nodded. "Be right there," he told the ANBU he could sense standing just outside. "Yuu…?" he started, once he saw the ANBU flicker away out of the corner of his eye.

With the same ferocity that Yuugao had attached herself to him, she threw herself back, bumping into the lockers behind her. "It's okay," she whispered, "It's okay…I'm okay…okay..." Nodding more to reassure herself than him.

"Yeah?" he questioned softly. She was still nodding emphatically, but a little too forcefully and her eyes still seemed wild. He reached across the distance now separating them to touch her face and he brushed the pad of his gloved thumb over her trembling lower lip, gentling her it seemed as she at last stilled. He then leaned in swiftly and kissed her hard, a quick mark of possession as he claimed her mouth and then pulled away before she could even think to return it. He took his green and white _tori_ mask from the inside of the locker and put it over his face, so she couldn't see his eyes, then grabbed his _ninjaken_ as he strode purposefully toward the door.

"I'll see you at home later, Yuugao," he told her, his deep voice sounding hollow behind the mask. "I love you."

Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to push the air out of her closed throat and call him back to her. To tell him not to go. Raidou only hesitated a half step, long enough to see if she would answer him, and then he was gone.

"Rai….dou…" she whimpered, and slid down the front of the lockers to sit stunned on the floor, her legs bent awkwardly underneath her.

_Not you…please, not you too…_

* * *

_Footnote:_

_Thank you as always for reading. Feedback and reviews are lovely and help feed the motivation monster, which makes chapters happen faster. It's a vicious cycle._


	9. The Where's And What's

_AN: I do not own Naruto. This work is a derivative fiction based on. Hitomaru and Gekkou Shiori are mine however._

* * *

_Konoha Western Gate, Friday, Dawn._

_._

_._

Inuzuka Kiba was, to pardon the pun, dog tired.

He'd spent the last two days out in the field on what was _supposed_ to be fairly low rank mission with some newly-promoted Chuunin.

And Naruto…who was exhausting to deal with no matter what level of mission it was. So instead of it being just a simple escort from point A to point B, deliver and return home…no, _Naruto_ had to find some way to make it complicated. _As usual_. In this case, there'd been a swamp, and some bandits, then the new little Chuunin Kunoichi had managed to get herself kidnapped and nearly killed by some overzealous Grass Nin. Then Naruto'd overreacted…pretty much standard for him, but it also meant that Kiba hadn't slept now for the better part of three days trying to keep the mission from turning into an International incident. So it was with bleary eyes that he regarded the two Shinobi in front of him who had met him at the gate and then dragged him away saying they had an important job for him, leaving a confused Naruto and the two overwhelmed newbies to file the mission report with Tsunade.

"You want me to do what now?" Kiba asked tiredly once they'd stopped. Looking from a surly Shikamaru to Chouji and then back. At his side, Akamaru dropped to the dirt to rest his heavy head on his huge paws and nap. Kiba had a perverse desire to nudge him awake, but then he remembered the two in front of him and blinked at them. "Find...what?"

"Find _Ino_," Shikamaru repeated. Kiba blinked again.

"Wouldn't she be at home? It's what? Almost seven in the morning?" Kiba yawned. Shikamaru made an impatient noise between his teeth, and Chouji held his hands out toward the Shadow Wielder with palms out, trying to placate him.

"Easy, easy, Shikamaru…" Chouji soothed. "There was an explosion last night at the Hokage Tower. The ANBU Headquarters was attacked. Ino's one of the missing," Chouji summarized for the exhausted canine specialist. Kiba was awake now as he looked between the two in disbelief.

"The fuck you say…" ANBU? They'd been attacked? He couldn't quite get his brain around it. Weren't they supposed to be the best of the best? "Wait…_Ino's_ an ANBU?" he puzzled, his tired brain just catching up.

Shikamaru's scowl was getting deeper. "Irrelevant to the task at hand," Shikamaru told him. "Can you find her or not?"

Kiba tipped his head back and scented the air, squinting his eyes in the morning sun. "Maybe. It rained last night. Most scents've been washed down. I probably can…you have something of hers?" Chouji reached into his back pouch and pulled out a lacy camisole and handed it to him. Kiba raised an eyebrow. He'd undressed enough women in his life already to know that something like this was _not_ an outer layer. Chouji blushed.

"We know where the spare key is to her apartment. I-I took…_that_ from the top of her laundry pile," Chouji said with a vague uncomfortable wave toward the tiny scrap of lace in Kiba's hand. "I figured it was best that it was something she'd worn, right? Rather than clean?" Kiba snickered at his larger friend's obvious discomfiture.

If Akimichi Chouji had _ever_ been to the lacy underwear stage with a woman...Kiba was a Vegetarian. Which he was definitely, not.

"Is this going to take long?" Shikamaru prodded churlishly. Kiba shot him a dirty look.

"Give me a fucking minute, willya? Damn, you're impatient. Getting me some coffee might _help…"_ Kiba said pointedly then looked down at the purple lacy thing in his hands. "Besides, shouldn't we really be doing this at the accident site? I mean…if you want me to…identify...her…?" he trailed off thoughtfully as the gravity of the situation began to fully sink in.

Chouji shifted his weight as Shikamaru folded his arms over his chest and muttered under his breath. "Shikamaru doesn't, -I mean _WE- _don't believe that Ino was in the building at the time. We were hoping that you would be able to help us find out where she is," Chouji said. Kiba looked back up at Ino's teammates as they stood there in varying degrees of impatience and worry. He then considered how he would feel if something happened to Hinata and he got with the program quick.

"Yeah, okay…" he told them. Akamaru, who had been listening as he rested at his partner's feet, rose and sniffed at Ino's camisole. After Akamaru'd had his turn Kiba brought the purple lace to his face -with no small amount of embarrassment himself since it was Ino's lingerie. Couldn't Chouji have brought a scarf or a pillowcase or something since they were in public?- and inhaled deeply. Immediately, Ino's scent went straight to his brain. He closed his eyes as he kept breathing through the purple lace, deciphering the layers.

"Wow," he murmured. "Okay…I'm smelling cigarette smoke and lots of it. Probably from a bar. And…phermones…mmm…nice," he murmured as he sifted through the scents. He could ever so faintly smell the trace of Ino's attraction for someone. But if she'd been with a man, his scent wasn't on the inner layer of her clothes. "Man, she smells good," he said absently. Honeysuckle and almond soap mixed together subtly with the clean scent of her sweat. He'd never noticed before, but Ino smelled…yummy.

"This is bullshit… We should have gotten Shino," Shikamaru grouched in the background.

"Be patient," Chouji admonished. Kiba ignored them both as he took one last deep inhale, breathing Ino in.

"Yeah, Shikamaru…what's the rush?" Kiba asked, lowering the camisole from his face and giving the Shadow nin a toothy grin just to rankle him a little. Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"The rush is, the sooner I _find_ that troublesome woman the sooner I can throttle her for worrying us all and go back to bed," Shikamaru complained. "Now are you going to look? Or just snork her underwear some more?"

"Hey, I'm just working with what _you_ two gave me," Kiba shrugged. "The scent trail is going to be strongest at her place, so we should start there and work our way out," Kiba told them with authority. He started to stuff Ino's camisole into his pocket, but Chouji's large hand closed around his wrist and he took back the skimpy piece of lingerie from the canine specialist with a frown. "Can't blame me for trying," Kiba grinned.

"Definitely should have asked Shino instead," Chouji muttered darkly. Shikamaru just grunted in agreement.

"Shall we, gentlemen?" Kiba offered, letting the other two lead the way to Ino's place.

It didn't take the three shinobi long before they were standing on the walkway outside of Ino's small third floor apartment. Chouji reluctantly unlocked the door and they entered. Kiba's eyes quickly adjusted to the low light and he inhaled deeply. More of Ino's intoxicating smell filled his lungs and again he worked to decipher what the subtle layers of scent could tell him. Akamaru quietly moved around the perimeter of the room as well as he worked his own scent trails.

"She hasn't been here since…" he told them thoughtfully as he tried to roughly estimate what the slightly stale air could tell him. Akamaru whoofed quietly from where he nosed at Ino's hastily made bed in the corner of the room. "Akamaru says since at least yesterday morning," he translated.

Kiba's eyes roamed over the room, taking in the many houseplants and flowers that Ino had. He followed Akamaru over toward Ino's double bed near the window - her scents were strongest here - taking note of her dark violet sheets and white down comforter. Her laundry basket was against the wall between the foot of the bed and her closet, and Kiba noticed the purple panties resting on top, the mates to the camisole that Chouji had taken. Ino was messier than he'd thought she'd be, as he noticed several pairs of shoes she'd left out in front of her closet as well as a couple of dresses on their hangers, hooked over the closet door and covering the mirror. He looked back over his shoulder when Akamaru chuffed again and nudged a small pile of black cloth on the bed. Kiba reached down and picked up the cloth and it unfurled in his hands into a pair of lace panties. He raised them to his face for a confirmation sniff and smirked.

"Clean," he told the other two.

"I'm not very comfortable with this," Chouji muttered unhappily to Shikamaru under his breath, as Kiba found the black bra that Ino had set out on her bed with the panties and was examining the lacy cups closely.

"What's the point of this, Inuzuka? We _know_ she's not _here_," Shikamaru asked, his hands resting on his hips.

Kiba turned and gave the other two a narrow look. "You questioning my abilities again?" he asked the Shadow user. Shikamaru's response was to stare him down.

"No. It's your _methods_ I'm having a problem with," Shikamaru said with a pointed look at the bra the canine nin had dangling from one finger. Kiba looked smug.

"Neither of you have sisters, do you? That's obvious enough," Kiba snorted. "She left these out because she was probably planning on changing into them at some point." Kiba jerked his chin toward the closet door and the dresses that hung there. "Hana-neechan does that same thing if she has plans after her shift. Sets out her date clothes before she leaves." Kiba twirled the bra around his finger absently as he explored his theory. "Probably the same situation here. _Somebody_ was gonna get the benefit of this sexy lingerie, since I doubt Ino wears _this_," he told them, holding up the sheer black underwear so Chouji and Shikamaru could really get an eyeful of it, "under her uniform. Then again, maybe she does. Always has had a fondness for showing herself off, hasn't she?" Kiba said with a leer.

Akamaru rolled his eyes at his partner's baiting of the other two ninja and went around the corner into Ino's kitchen and laid down under her small table so he was out of the way of the brawl it seemed Kiba was provoking on purpose. Probably just overly proud of himself for figuring out something before the Genius Nara did.

Now Chouji was looking as thunderous as Shikamaru as he stalked forward and snatched Ino's lingerie from Kiba's lax fingers and crumpled it in his large hand along with the purple camisole he'd already taken from the canine specialist. Kiba fisted his hands on his hips as he waited to see what the other two would do, and he scented the air blowing in from the open door behind them again to confirm his suspicions. Under the table Akamaru cocked an ear toward the door as well.

"You're right, Kiba. Chouji and I don't have sisters. We have _Ino_. Our three families have known each other for so long we might as well _be _related. Not to mention that troublesome woman was born the day after me, so yeah, she might as well be my blood sister. And since my 'sister', my teammate, _my friend,_ could possibly be dead, the last thing I want to do is stand here and watch you paw through her stuff when we should be _making sure she isn't!"_ Shikamaru yelled.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Shikamaru and Chouji's heads whipped around at the voice coming from behind them. Ino stood in the doorway behind them in the standard black uniform turtleneck and pants. Her arms filled with her green chuunin vest and what looked like a short sword balanced on the top. her hair was still damp like she'd just taken shower. She looked more confused than angry -though Shikamaru expected that was coming - as she looked back and forth between the three of them.

"Aaaand mission accomplished," Kiba said smugly.

As Ino blinked owlishly at her former teammates from the doorway, it was Chouji who broke his paralysis first and rushed her. Sweeping the startled blonde up in his arms as he sobbed loudly. "Oh thank goodness! I'm so relieved! Thank goodness you're all right!" Forcibly separated from her stuff when Chouji grabbed her, Ino could only let him wail all over her as he held her tightly with her arms pinned to the sides.

"Chou…_ji_! Ack!" Ino squeaked, as the emotionally overwhelmed Akimichi forgot himself and squeezed the blonde to his chest like she was a stuffed toy. "Let go!" Ino croaked, "Shika! _Help! AIR!_"

The Shadow nin just scowled in her direction with his arms folded over his chest as he watched the display in front of him. Kiba raised an eyebrow at him as Ino started turning bluish from lack of air.

"You gonna help her?" he asked curiously. Team 10's dynamic had always been a little…different, so Kiba wasn't sure if this kind of thing was normal, as Chouji sobbed, Ino was suffocated, and Shikamaru scowled.

"In a minute," Shikamaru snapped.

When Ino started looking like passing out was a distinct possibility, Kiba decided to intervene. He tried to grab Ino away from Chouji, but the moment his hands touched the blonde he found himself connecting with the opposite wall as the Akimichi flicked him away like he was a gnat. Kiba slid down the wall onto Ino's couch a little dazed. He must really be exhausted from his mission if Chouji could get the drop on him like that.

"I was so _WORRIED!"_ Chouji wailed loudly, tears running down his face and onto Ino's as he rubbed his tattoo'd cheek against hers. He loosened his grip on her and she slumped against him like a rag doll. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" he admonished.

For her part, Ino looked a little like she'd just been flattened by a runaway produce cart as she patted Chouji's arm absently while trying to remember how to breathe. "I…have no…idea what you're…talking about," Ino gasped, then gave Shikamaru an accusing look. "And you...could have..._helped!"_

"Feh…you had it coming, and you're probably gonna get worse when Asuma gets his hands on you," he scolded. "Where the fuck have you been?"

Ino blinked at him again, obviously taken aback by Shikamaru's vehemence. He was usually too lazy to ever get angry with her, so the fact that she'd heard him yelling at Kiba, as well as that thundery look he kept giving her was making her uneasy. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Kiba sidled up next to her as she and Shikamaru faced each other. He leaned over, his nose almost brushing the damp hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. Ino jerked away from him and scowled at his invasion of her personal space. "Excuse me? Just what the hell do you think _you're _doing?" she asked him narrowly. Kiba took a fold of her sleeve between two of his fingers and rubbed the fabric before letting it go and sauntering back over to her couch.

"Uniform's damp. And that's _not_ her shampoo or soap either, smells like a man's stuff," Kiba offered, and then lay down on Ino's couch. Folding his arms over his chest and crossing his ankles as he settled down to watch the drama unfold. Akamaru raised his nose for a sniff in Ino's direction and chuffed quietly. Kiba's eyebrow went up. "Oh really?" he drawled, his eyes appraising Ino hotly and he grinned, exposing his canines. "That's very interesting." Ino looked fit to explode as she looked from Kiba, lounging on her couch like some overgrown housepet, to the upset Chouji and angry Shikamaru.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ino sputtered, working herself up into a righteous indignation. "Not to mention what are you guys doing _in_ my apartment in the first place…and _Chouji!_" Ino screeched loudly as she suddenly caught sight of what the Akimichi was holding in one big fist. "What the fuck do you think you're doing with my underwear?" Her eyes snapped blue fire as she stomped over to her former teammate and snatched back her lingerie as he shifted his weight from foot to foot guiltily, a mortified blush creeping it's way up his face. "_BOUNDARIES_, damnit! We've talked about this!" she yelled at the larger shinobi, practically shaking her finger in his face. Kiba snickered under his breath as he watched Ino chew out the Akimichi.

His eyebrow twitching dangerously, Shikamaru had just about had it. He brought the flat of his palm down sharply onto the top of the counter he was standing next to. The loud noise startling them all to attention as Ino's houseplants rattled in their containers. _"Enough!"_ Shikamaru snapped. "I'm asking you again, where the hell were you all night, Ino?"

Ino frowned at him, the hackles on the back of her neck rising as they always did whenever Shikamaru got assertive or made the Teacher face at her. Out came her inner bitch which just could not cooperate with him whenever he used that tone. "None of your goddamn business, Shikamaru! I don't answer to you," she replied, just as hotly. "_Or_ Asuma," she added, remembering what Shikamaru had said before.

"It's my _'goddamn business'_ when I've had to spend the better part of the night worried you could be dead!" Shikamaru yelled at her.

"Dead?" Ino looked puzzled. Kiba was pondering the bandages on his lower legs thoughtfully as she swung her gaze to him and then to Chouji, who was likewise studying his feet. They apparently weren't comfortable either with the level of emotion on Shikamaru's face as he glared at Ino.

"The Interrogation Room, Ino," he explained with no small measure of impatience, "ANBU HQ was almost wiped out tonight. Someone blew it up! With your Squad in there! And the duty roster _said_ you were on duty last night…so what the hell else were we supposed to think?"

"No…" Ino murmured, stunned almost into incomprehension. "No, I- I worked a double shift at the gate yesterday for Tsuzumi-kun…he - he was going to work my shift last night in return."

"Thank goodness for that," Chouji exhaled.

Ino got paler and paler as Shikamaru went on to fill her in on the details of what had happened the night before. When he finished, she looked blindsided as she brought her hand up to cover her eyes and wobbled a bit. A quick whistle from Kiba brought Akamaru out from under Ino's table just in time to catch her as her legs went out from under her. She slid down Akamaru's side to the floor, her legs sprawled and hung her head, her hair covering her face. Akamaru whined softly and curled around her, shoving his muzzle under the lax hand she had at her side.

"My whole Squad? All of them?" she asked weakly. "What…what about Ibiki?" The loss of the honorific onto her Captain's name wasn't lost on any of the men present, especially Shikamaru, who had begun to hear the whispers about the two of them…once he knew to listen. It didn't lessen his worry for her to hear them either.

"He's still alive, Tsunade-sama has been with him all night. It's still not certain if he'll make it though," Shikamaru said in a much calmer tone. He'd vented most of his frustration and worry when he'd yelled at her, now he was just feeling the wash of relief that she was alive and whole as well as a deep fatigue from the past night's events.

At the word that her _Shishou_ and Captain was still alive, albeit in critical condition Ino snapped out of her stupor and raised her head, her blue eyes sharpening as her ANBU training took over. There would be time for emotions and self-recriminations later. Pushing those thoughts down deep she made herself focus on the immediate, becoming the efficient shinobi that Ibiki had molded her into as she rose to her feet gracefully.

"I've got to report in," she said brusquely. Chouji, Shikamaru and Kiba all but forgotten as she moved with quick purpose to her closet and gathered up her spare ANBU pants, sandals and turtleneck -the rest of her uniform including her mask safely stored in her locker- and took them to the bathroom to change..

Kiba looked up when he heard the bathroom door close firmly and squinted at Shikamaru thoughtfully. "That was…unexpected…"

"Shikamaru?" Chouji murmured.

Shikamaru frowned. He'd known Ino his entire life thanks to their family's connection. He thought he knew her as well as she knew him, but it was suddenly becoming apparent that while he'd been lackadaisically going about his merry way teaching at the academy, going on the occasional mission with Asuma and Chouji, and planning battle contingencies for the Village, Ino had changed. He was irritated with himself for not noticing. When had she gone from that obnoxious, loud, narcissistic girl to the cold professional he'd just seen rise from the floor like a phoenix. She'd always been over-confident and bossy, but this was something else. He didn't like the thought that he'd been blind to the changes in one of his closest friends, and before he could think that it might not be a good idea he'd crossed the room to her bathroom and let himself in without knocking. Closing the door behind him.

Ino sat on the closed lid of the toilet, already changed into the base layer of her ANBU uniform as she propped one foot up on the side of her bathtub to fasten the straps of her tall black sandals. She barely glanced up at him, before switching legs to fasten the other over her shins.

"Huh," Shikamaru grunted when she said nothing. Not even reacting to his presence in the bathroom with her. He'd expected sarcasm for his failure to knock or a vicious throttling at the _very_ least.

"What?" Ino asked him flatly as she rose and turned to the sink to brush her teeth.

"I expected you to kill me for coming in here unannounced. You might have been naked," Shikamaru said, provoking her on purpose. Ino shrugged at him as she leaned over the sink.

"I'd hope at this point in your life you'd know what a naked woman looks like, Shikamaru…it shouldn't be a shocker," she said around her toothbrush as she looked at him reflected behind her in the mirror. "Unless you don't like girls," she finished, baiting him back.

Shikamaru scowled and blushed at the same time as only he could do. "Females are so troublesome, " he muttered. "And you still haven't said where you were last night, Ino…" he asked again.

Ino made him wait as she spit toothpaste into the sink and rinsed before meeting his eyes in the mirror. "I was not here, Shikamaru. And I was not on duty. That's all you're getting, " she stated bluntly.

"Ino," he started sternly, "this isn't a game. People are dead. You're going to be expected to account for your whereabouts." Ino whipped around to face him and Shikamaru was almost taken aback by the fierce look in her eyes. Again he couldn't help but feel that he didn't know this Ino at all.

"You're right, Shikamaru…it isn't a game, and I'm not playing one. I had nothing to do with what happened last night if that's what you're leading up to. I worked a double shift with Mozuku-kun at the Eastern Gate. I ran into Asuma-sensei and joined you guys for a drink, and then I had a date," Ino listed, ticking each item off on her fingers. "My _whereabouts_ after that aren't anyone's business, but mine and the person's I was with. And it's gonna take someone with a lot more clout than you to make me tell and let my private life become yet more fodder for the rumor mill. I've had enough already with that bullshit they're saying about me and my Captain," Ino said hotly, poking him in the chest.

"Of course I don't believe you had anything to do with what happened, Ino. I know you too well to _ever_ think that. But the fact remains that you are the only one from your Squad that's not dead or nearly so. Think about this, the attack was on ANBU HQ and centered on the Interrogation Room itself. You're ANBU now, Ino…you know it isn't easy for an outsider to get in there."

"No, it's not," Ino replied slowly.

"So the possibility that it's an infiltration has to be considered, but what if it's worse? What if there's actually a traitor? Everyone would be under suspicion, even you. _Especially_ you, given your specialty classification within ANBU," Shikamaru told her. Ino's eyes narrowed at him.

The previous year, when Ibiki had first approached her about joining his Interrogation Division, he had told her that even if she never functioned as an ANBU outside of his Interrogation and Torture Squad, she would still have to meet the minimum requirements for all ANBU members to be eligible to transfer. So in addition to the accelerated taijutsu and ninjutsu training she'd done just to satisfy those basic requirements, she'd also learned that all ANBU had to have one area of expertise. Luckily, Ino had discovered with her background in the Intelligence Division and being a spy that she was exceedingly good at traps…especially those involving exploding tags and genjutsu.

"What are you saying, Shika? And how do you even know about any of that?"

Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pockets as he leaned against her bathroom door and gazed at her levelly. "I suppose you're not the only one that has secrets, Ino. I do more for this Village than teach brats ninjutsu, I have access to files. I took a look at yours last night..."

"You did what?" she inhaled sharply, her eyebrows coming down.

"I've been asked to look into this incident by the Council. They want a report from me so it was part of my job, but I'm not going to lie to you, Ino. Things don't look good. Not a lot of this makes sense yet, but a shitstorm is brewing and I don't like the feeling you're somehow in the middle of it. If the attack _was_ directed at your Squad, you're isolated now…so watch yourself, Ino…watch your back," he said gruffly.

Ino's expression softened a bit at his words, but Shikamaru could see that her eyes still held that same dangerous gleam that had made him follow her into the bathroom in the first place. That look that made him feel like he was in a genjutsu, not sure which Ino was real, and which wasn't. She raised her hands and cupped his face in her palms, holding his head gently between her hands.

"You and Chouji have always had my back. Always."

"But we're not always going to be there to back you up, Ino…" Shikamaru started to explain. Exasperated that again she didn't seem to be giving the possibility that she could be suspected or implicated in the ANBU attack the same level of seriousness that he was. Ino leaned in and gave him a brief chaste kiss on the lips, effectively shutting him up in surprise. She smiled a little at his gobsmacked expression, having never expected her to do that and she rubbed her thumbs lightly over his cheekbones.

"I can handle myself, Shikamaru, you and Chouji don't need to worry about me anymore," she said gently and let him go. His normal sulky expression fell over his face now that she wasn't touching him.

"How can we _not_ worry_?_ You're _You…_you're like a divining rod for trouble. All I have to do is sit back and wait for the mayhem to ensue," Shikamaru complained. Ino nudged him out of the way of the door with her elbow and reached for the knob.

"Feh, pretend I'm Temari then…you don't worry about _her_," Ino teased him with a narrow look over her shoulder. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Of course I do. You always worry about the people you love, Ino."

Ino paused at the revelation with her hand on the knob. It wasn't like she didn't know that Shikamaru cared for her, they'd been teammates and friends forever, but to hear him more or less say it out loud for the first time ever was something different. She looked at Shikamaru, really looked at him and saw the fatigue and concern etched in his face. She'd really worried him. Ino let go of the doorknob to slip her arms around his neck and hug him.

"I'm sorry if I scared you," she whispered in his ear. Shikamaru didn't answer, just squeezed her tightly to his chest much as Chouji had before, but thankfully without the same crushing power. Ino was the one to let go first as she pulled away and opened the door. "Oh, and don't think we're not having a discussion later about you being in love with Temari," she tossed over her shoulder as she left the bathroom.

"Too troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as he followed her out. Ino picked up the violet tunic she'd worn the other night and pulled it on to cover the ANBU tattoo on her arm as well as the partial uniform.

Kiba was still sprawled on her couch half-asleep, but given his proximity to the bathroom door and excellent hearing the canine nin probably now knew everything that had just happened. He cracked one eye open and watched her as Ino tied her _hitae-ate _loosely around her waist like a sash and then collected the _kodachi_ from where it'd dropped on the floor and tucked it into the knot at the small of her back. Kiba sniffed again quietly. The scent of Shikamaru on her couldn't completely cover the smell of the male she'd been with, which was now even clearer to him since she was closer. It was also familiar and he looked up at her with a smirk. "Gen-?" he managed to get out before Ino's expression went deadly.

"Do you _like_ your teeth, Kiba?" He opened his mouth to speak and her eyes narrowed even more, "_IN_ your head?" she finished quietly. Akamaru chuffed softly in amusement from where he was curled on the floor near the foot of her bed. Kiba swallowed as her eyebrow went up questioningly and her hand went toward the _kodachi _at her waist threateningly.

"Not a word," he promised, and rolled over on his side away from her, facing the back of the couch and he closed his eyes again. Mashing the ratty little purple throw pillow under his head into a more comfortable position as he settled in for a nap.

Ino looked up and saw that Shikamaru was nearly in the same pose as he lay on Ino's bed on the top of her comforter with his back to her and facing the window. Ino rolled her eyes. "You'd better not drool on my pillow again, Shikamaru," she warned him. She barely got an annoyed grunt in response from the exhausted shadow user. It wasn't the first time he'd crashed at her place while she was on duty, it was one of Shikamaru's favorite hiding spots when he wanted to avoid work and sleep.

All she could see of Chouji as she made her way to the front door was the back end of him hanging out of her refrigerator. Good luck there, since she rarely kept much food in her place and he knew it. He straightened up from his inspection of her icebox and looked at her gravely.

"Remember to lock up when you guys go," she told him. Chouji just nodded at her.

"Please be careful, Ino," Chouji said quietly.

She gave him a brilliant smile that didn't reach her eyes, because unlike with Shikamaru, it was always easy to lie to Chouji.

"Of course!"

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* * *

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Shiranui Genma whistled happily as he strolled into the Jounin break room a little after eight. The room was curiously empty, except for a sour looking Raidou who was sprawled out on one of the window seats.

"Morning," Genma said lightly as he went to get a cup of tea. Raidou's look just got darker.

"You're awfully chipper this morning for a man only a few hours away from missing Nin status," Raidou growled at him. Genma raised an eyebrow at the tone before he really processed what Raidou had said.

"And you're a grump as usual…wait, what? Missing Nin?" Genma frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?" He turned and noticed for the first time that Raidou was wearing most of his ANBU gear, he'd only taken off the vest and gloves, his mask turned around to the back, and was glaring at him. "Why are you wearing that?" he asked, pointing at him with the hand holding his tea cup.

"Oh, I just thought it would be a giggle to play dress up and relive the glory days," Raidou snapped sarcastically. Genma raised an eyebrow questioningly at his friend and tipped the end of his senbon up at the corner of his mouth. Raidou was in a mood it seemed, and Genma'd learned over all the years of their friendship to just let Raidou get it out of his system when he started getting pissy.

"Uh huh," Genma grunted neutrally as he finished getting his tea. He crossed the room and sat down on one of the other padded benches across from Raidou, propping his feet up on the window seat next to him. Setting the tea aside, he casually picked up a newspaper someone had left behind, knowing full well it would irritate the shit out of Raidou. He could practically hear the other man gnashing his teeth. Genma wasn't about to let the scarred shinobi's rotten mood spoil his morning as he pretended to read. In reality his mind was still full of Ino and the night…and morning they'd spent together. He was especially enjoying replaying the vivid memory of the lengthy shower they'd taken together before going their separate ways for the day. He folded the newspaper and laid it over his face as he tipped his head back and folded his arms over his chest. He and Ino hadn't done much sleeping the night before, not that he was complaining _at all_, but he was always good at catch as catch can when it came to making it up. And since Raidou didn't seem to want to be forthcoming on why he was being an asshole…

"So where the hell were _you_ last night?" Raidou sniped churlishly at him.

And here we go.

Genma wasn't sure he should rise to the bait, but he was curious as to why Raidou seemed to have his boxers in such a bunch first thing in the morning. "What're you, my mother?" he questioned from behind the newspaper. Raidou snorted.

"I sure hope she was worth it for you to miss a Summons."

Genma sighed and took the paper down from his face, leveling a look at the man across from him. "Okay, Raidou…I'll bite. What are you getting at?"

Raidou scoffed and shook his head. "You really have no idea what went down here last night? Whatever bed you crawled out of must've been on the far side of the Village for _you_ not to know,"

It was only Genma's good mood that helped him keep his patience with Raidou's bad one. "For your information, the only bed I crawled out of was my own."

Raidou's eyebrows about hit his hairline as they shot up. "You were home? ANBU HQ blew up last night. We have over a dozen dead ANBU…your place is close to the Tower, how could you not hear it?" Raidou asked incredulously.

Genma frowned at the news. "What time did that happen? Is Yuugao okay?"

"Happened just before ten I think. Yuugao's fine, she was with me at the time. Ibiki got messed up pretty bad. It was touch and go for a while, but they think he's going to pull through. Iwashi's dead though," Raidou told him.

"Shit," Genma exhaled, absorbing the news. So that must have been the something he had heard about the time he and Ino were getting…friendly.

"Asuma's girl is gone too," Raidou said, watching his best friend closely. Genma's eyes widened.

"Kurenai's dead?" he asked incredulously. Raidou shook his head.

"No, no, his student. The little blonde one Yuugao's taken under her wing…Ino. Asuma was about to lose his shit last night when he found out about it too."

Genma frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"Ibiki's entire Squad was taken out last night. Little Ino's is the only body they haven't recovered yet, well hers and some other guy…Saragaki? Sarugooki…something like that," Raidou dismissed with a vague wave. "Fuck, I'm tired…" he groaned, tipping his head back.

"Ino's not dead."

Raidou's head snapped back up and his scowl came back full force. "How do you know that?" he asked narrowly, and then realized he already knew. Hadn't Yuugao been going on and on last night about how Genma had asked their younger friend to dinner? Raidou had assumed -knowing how Genma operated- that if anything the senbon shinobi had found other company after his dinner with the blonde. Since he wasn't at his apartment when the Summons was delivered. The idea that love-them-and-leave-them Shiranui Genma would carry on a liaison at his place, or with Little Ino was just…absurd. No matter how 'wonderful' Yuugao found the idea.

"Erm…" Genma stalled, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

"Oh HELL no," Raidou snapped, "tell me you did not spend last night fucking _INO_," Raidou all but yelled.

It was Genma's turn to scowl. "Will you keep your goddamn voice down!" he hissed, with a sharp look toward the open door. "And mind your own business."

His older friend just gaped at him, his mouth hanging open. "You've got to be shitting me. _Ino_? What kind of death wish have you got? You even have any idea how old she is? She's a baby!"

"She's definitely _not_ a baby. And I know exactly how old she is," Genma told him. "She's legal, it was consensual, so what of it?" Genma had up-close, first hand knowledge just how much of a baby Ino _wasn't_.

Raidou just shook his head in disbelief before coming back with, "You've got some balls. Asuma is going to fucking tear you up when he finds out about it. And if he doesn't, you _know_ Inoichi will."

Genma frowned. He hadn't really given much thought to what Ino's former sensei -and one of his very good friends- would think about him taking up with her. Or what her family might think. Besides, it was really Ino's place to tell -or not tell- her father and ex-sensei who she was or wasn't sleeping with. Right? Yet why would she? Wasn't anything between them…_between them?_ Evidently not in the scarred shinobi's eyes.

"Perhaps it's best they don't find out then, right?" Genma asked bluntly. Raidou was an excellent friend, but he and Aoba had a tendency to gossip like a couple of old women.

Raidou was still looking at him like he'd dropped in from outer space as he kept shaking his head slowly. "Un-freaking-believable. Worst night of my life; Iwashi and Ibiki get themselves blown to hell, I get dragged back into the shit, Yuugao got pissed at me for…God only knows why, and _You…_" he included Genma in his rhetorical pity party with a magnanimous sweep of his hand. "You spend all night fucking a teenager," he finished. Ignoring the malice pouring off the senbon chewing shinobi across from him in waves. So much for Genma's good mood.

"You really need to let that go," Genma told him stonily.

"She's half your age!" Raidou accused loudly. Genma could hear footsteps coming down the hall toward the break room.

"She is not, quit exaggerating! And will you quit being such a prick about it and shut the fuck up?"

Kurenai had the misfortune of walking into the break room just as the two Tokubetsu Jounin were engaged in a silent battle of wills. She'd heard Raidou's raised voice, and Genma's angry lowered one, but not exactly what they'd been saying, other than a lot of "she's". Either way the crimson-eyed jounin couldn't help feeling like she'd walked in on something she shouldn't have.

"Uh…" she looked from one to the other, "What's going on?" She couldn't help but ask, her eyebrows raised.

Raidou in a fit of pique pointed accusingly at Genma who was furiously chewing on his senbon as he sat with arms folded over his chest glaring at him. "Ask him why he missed the Summons last night."

Kurenai's gaze jumped from the scarred shinobi to the long-haired one sitting across from him. "Genma?" she asked hesitantly, not sure she should be drawn in to a personal spat.

"I was busy," Genma bit out defensively, still clenching the senbon between his teeth in an effort not to spit it into Raidou's smug face. He knew Raidou was just in a nasty, vindictive mood and was taking it out on him, but there was only so much he'd let Raidou get away with at his expense.

Raidou leaned forward onto his elbows, grinning evilly. "Doing what to who?" he baited. "After all, it's not a big deal if anyone knows, right?-"

Kurenai could sense Genma getting more and more annoyed the more Raidou pushed. "Raidou-kun, it's not really anyone's business if Genma-kun doesn't want to say-" Kurenai interrupted, trying to cut Raidou off before he went over the line.

"-That you spent the night with Ino," Raidou announced, and in that second you could have heard a pin drop.

Too late.

Kurenai gasped. Not that the announcement was a complete shock to her, she'd noticed the way Genma had been paying extra attention to the blonde lately, especially the night of his birthday. But more because if Ino had been with Genma, that meant…

"No shit?" Another voice from over Kurenai's left shoulder said. All the heads in the room swiveled to the doorway where Yamashiro Aoba stood with a coffee cup and slack jaw. "_Yamanaka_ Ino? I thought she was supposed to be dead?" the sunglasses wearing Jounin asked, confused. Genma groaned inwardly. _Nice timing, asshole…_

"Raidou, you got a big fucking mouth," Genma sighed with more than a little exasperation.

"So she's not dead?" Aoba asked Raidou. The scarred shinobi shook his head in confirmation. "And she's dating…_him?_" he pointed at Genma disbelievingly. "I thought she had a thing going with Ibiki…?" Kurenai caught the inside of her upper lip between her teeth at the expression on Genma's face. He was normally so unflappable and reserved, but now he was scowling and chewing on his senbon so hard she was afraid for his teeth. Raidou gave Genma another of his nasty smiles.

"I don't know…is _dating_ really the right word here, Genma?" Raidou sneered. Genma said nothing, but his glare said volumes. It promised that one day, very soon, Raidou would pay.

"Does Asuma know yet?" Aoba asked the room at large. Raidou just chuckled once sarcastically. "Guess not…" Aoba shifted a step backwards toward the door. He couldn't wait to tell Anko-chan the latest scuttlebutt. After all, if the tidbit was juicy enough and he played his cards right he could entice his favorite snake-kunoichi out for drinks and who knew where it would lead to from there?

Just as Aoba edged flush with the doorway a rapid series of quiet thuds hit the doorjamb and he looked down to see the sleeve of his left arm -the one holding his coffee- was now pinned to the wood from elbow to shoulder with senbon, perfectly tracing the outline of his arm. He looked up as Genma refolded his arms and narrowed his heavy-lidded eyes at him.

"Oi, you wouldn't be running off to spread rumors now would you…" one eyebrow went up menacingly, "Aoba-_kun_?" The threat hanging in the air.

Aoba gulped quietly, internally weighing the pro's of an overly grateful tipsy Anko against the huge con of being on Shiranui's bad side. "Of course not!" Aoba tried to sound offended he would even suggest such a thing. Raidou sniggered quietly. Bastard. _He_ was the one who'd spilled the beans. Genma turned back to the chuckling source of his ire, all but dismissing his pin-cushioned colleague.

"Then we're good. Keep it that way," he told Aoba.

Aoba flailed as he tried pulling the embedded senbon out of the doorjamb with his right hand without tearing up his shirt or spilling too much of the coffee he carried in his left. In the end it was Kurenai who stepped up and freed him. Aoba glared at the senbon user as he sulked and inspected the row of torn holes in his uniform shirt. Best gossip EVER and it had to be about Shiranui who had no fucking sense of humor whatsoever about these kinds of things. Aoba didn't know why he wasn't using Namiashi for target practice since it seemed the scarred man was the one pushing the issue.

"Fucker…you owe me a new shirt," he complained at Genma. Genma just shot him a look from the corner of his eye and Aoba wisely decided retreat was the better part of valor and disappeared back down the hall the way he came.

"He's going to tell everyone he knows," Kurenai said thoughtfully, looking over her shoulder as she moved farther into the room and gave the handful of senbon back to Genma, who re-concealed them so fast Kurenai barely saw him move.

"Naw," Raidou said cheerfully, jabbing a thumb in Genma's direction. "He's got the fear of Genma in him now. If anything he'll spread the news she's not dead, but he wouldn't _dare_ cross the cradle-robber here on the rest. He has too big of a self-preservation streak in him."

His patience at an end with Raidou's snide remarks about Ino's age, Genma uncrossed one leg and placed a hard, well-aimed kick at the other shinobi's torso. Raidou tried dodging, but wasn't quite quick enough. "Too bad I can't say the same for you, _Teme_…" Genma pointed out dryly as Raidou complained under his breath and rubbed his abused ribs. "Kurenai?"

Kurenai's eyes snapped to Genma's as he addressed her, one of his eyebrows raising questioningly. She blinked at him and then caught his meaning. "Oh! I'm not going to say anything!" she said quickly.

"Not even to Asuma? I'm sure he'd love to know…" Raidou taunted, grinning. Genma raised one foot threateningly again and Raidou slid down the bench quickly until he was out of kicking range.

"No," Kurenai said quietly, sinking down to sit on the bench behind her. "It's not my place. There're certain things he doesn't need to know about his students," she said, more to herself than the two shinobi in the room.

They hadn't been there the night before when Asuma was so crazy that Ino could have been killed. She knew it was because Ino was his girl. His awkward, brassy, square-peg-in-a-round-hole-brat that he'd just never known how to handle. Asuma had always treated Ino with the same care and suspicion one would give a live grenade or angry rattlesnake. Still, _all_ of Team 10 was overly protective of their female teammate. And as such given his recent revelation that he hadn't been the best sensei to Ino, Kurenai really didn't think her lover was ready to go a step farther and accept that his flat-chested little genin had become a grown woman. And she _certainly_ wasn't going to be the one to tell him that her choice of lover was older than he was. She had to live with the man after all.

"See? That's the _proper_ attitude," Genma lectured Raidou.

"But," Kurenai added, turning her attention back to Genma. "Ino's a good girl. I would hate for her to get hurt," she said pointedly. Genma nodded grudgingly. "And," she continued, this time turning her crimson gaze to Raidou. "I know how _I_ would feel if I heard any unsavory rumors going around about any of my 'kids'. It would…upset me. And I might not be so forgiving towards the bearer of that bad news…understand, Raidou-senpai?"

Raidou had the good sense to look chagrinned. "Yeah, yeah…point taken," he muttered contritely.

Footsteps coming quickly down the hall pulled the three shinobi's attention back to the door and a second later Aoba dashed back in the doorway. "Oh yeah," he said pointing at Genma, "I remembered what I'd come in here for in the first place. Shikaku-san's looking for you."

Raidou was looking entirely too elated at that bit of news for Genma's comfort level, but the senbon-user tore his eyes away from his questionable-at-the-moment-best-friend to give Aoba his attention.

"He say what it was about?" Raidou asked before Genma could. Aoba looked annoyed.

"Do I look like Shikaku's bitch? Go find out your own damn self," he griped and left again.

Kurenai looked puzzled at Raidou's obvious glee as the scarred shinobi folded his arms behind his head and grinned at Genma.

Genma was getting a sinking feeling he knew what it was too and he sighed heavily before getting up, picking up his up until then forgotten tea and downing the tepid liquid in one shot.

So much for his good morning.

* * *

_P.S. Good grief that turned out long… O_o_

_As always, until next time! Reviews are lovely and very much appreciated. ^_^_


	10. Reporting In

_Disclaimer: Naruto is still not mine._

_This chapter has so much backstory information in it…it was hard for me to write. Hope you all like it. ^_^ Oh, and for those who didn't get why Genma didn't punch Raidou last chapter…the man has CLASS! He only kicked him in the ribs instead. ^_~_

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The sun had yet to banish the deep purple shadows from the deepest corners and alleyways as it painted the remaining clouds from the storm peach and gold. Raindrops still clung to the grass wetly and the birds flitted from tree to tree as they greeted the morning. In the streets below vendors swept the puddles from the entryways of their shops in anticipation of the morning crowds. Everything was peaceful and idyllic as the sleepy village slowly came to life.

Still hidden in the deep shadows of a nearby rooftop, two ANBU watched as a certain blonde kunoichi left her apartment and swiftly took to the rooftops, heading toward the center of the village.

"That's her," Sarugaku Tsuzumi hissed bitterly from behind his red and white _Ushi_-mask.

From behind his _Hebi-_mask Hitomaru glanced at his companion from the corner of his eye, before continuing to watch the blonde's progress as she receded into the distance. Yamanaka Ino. She was more beautiful than Chigumo's memories had painted her, but then Hitomaru had always secretly suspected that his ill-fated former partner had had no interest in the fairer sex. Seeing the lovely kunoichi in person only reinforced that opinion. She was probably even more spectacular close up. Hitomaru couldn't wait to see her from kissing distance…and bleeding. Yes, red would definitely suit her.

Tsuzumi on the other hand was still staring towards the blonde's apartment and Hitomaru didn't have to see the other man's face to know he was furious, he could practically taste the other man's rage over the three shinobi he sensed in the blonde's apartment. One could even be seen on her bed through the window. Tsuzumi had an obvious grudge against the blonde kunoichi that Hitomaru hadn't bothered to ferret out the reason behind yet. He was still marveling at how easy it was to use that grudge to manipulate the other man to get what he wanted. In this case, Tsuzumi's cooperation in the infiltration of Konoha's ANBU.

"_Three_ chakra signatures…" Hitomaru said mildly, feeding into the other's anger. "My, my, my…"

The fact that the fists tightened on the other man to the point of the knuckles cracking brought delight to Hitomaru's black heart. "Fucking _slut_…" he heard the other mutter under his breath. _All too easy…_

Hitomaru turned his attention back to the retreating figure of the Yamanaka, almost out of sight now and he nudged the angry shinobi at his side.

"Let's go," he ordered and the two melted into the shadows.

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The Tower itself was relatively quiet as Ino hurried inside. Her plan was to check in 'not dead' as soon as possible before anything really troublesome happened, like her family being notified. And then she needed to find Asuma-sensei and see Ibiki-taicho, not necessarily in that order. However, Ino was feeling that the miserable knot of worry in her gut wasn't going to loosen until she saw her Captain with her own eyes. Anxiety quickened her pace until by the time she reached the Administrative floor with the Hokage's office she was nearly running.

"Oi! Oi! Oi!" a voice called to her from the open door of the Mission Office as she ran past. "Yo! _Ino!_"

She skidded to a stop, even though she was so close to her goal of the Hokage's office and turned to face the two Chuunin that had come out of the Mission Office behind her.

"You _are_ alive!" Izumo said, with no small measure of surprise and happiness. Kotetsu chuckled and grabbed her around the shoulders, giving her a friendly shake.

"What do you know! Aoba _wasn't_ full of shit for once!" Kotetsu grinned. "Looks like we owe him drinks." Ino looked confused.

"Bwuh?" she queried. Kotetsu and Izumo shared a knowing glance before Izumo shook his head in dismissal.

"Never mind. We're just really glad to see you're all right. You gave us all a scare!" the bandana wearing chuunin said with a smile. Kotetsu nodded emphatically in agreement, his arm still draped over her shoulder companionably.

Ino was fairly touched. "Really?" she smiled up at them. She'd never known her Sempai's cared. Kotetsu gave her shoulder another friendly squeeze before letting go.

"Of course! Mission Desk Shifts are _always_ more fun with you around!" Kotetsu winked. Ino face-faulted. She should have known better. Izumo and Kotetsu had a knack for suckering her into doing their share of the filing whenever she worked a shift at the Mission Desk with them. THEY called it "delegation of duties based on seniority", but Ino knew a snow job when she saw one. Even if they did usually bribe her into it with chocolate.

Izumo chuckled at the expression on Ino's face. "So what happened?" he asked the blonde. Ino straightened up fast, she'd been expecting this after all.

"I was scheduled on duty last night with my primary unit," she informed them. "However, Ibiki-taicho allowed me to trade shifts with Sarugaku Tsuzumi-kun and work his mandatory Gate Shift consecutively after my own. You can check the Logs. I was at the Eastern Gate with Mozuku-kun and Shimon-san yesterday from 0400 hours to 1700 hours, sir!" she reported properly and remained at attention.

Izumo just blinked at her and Kotetsu grinned again as he ruffled her hair. "She's just so _precious_ when she gets all proper and official and calls us 'Sir'," the spiky-haired chuunin cooed. Ino frowned and swatted him away playfully.

"Leave off!" she scolded. "I'm trying to check in _'officially'_ so everyone will stop flipping out about me! I'm gonna be lucky if I don't end up with Desk duty for a _year_ over this…" she whined.

"If your Captain okayed the switch he neglected to change the duty roster or inform the Chuunin on Duty," Izumo told her. "Ibiki's pretty good at remembering, but he _has_ forgotten in the past," Izumo shrugged. "I wouldn't sweat it too much yet."

"How is he?" Ino asked, holding her breath. Both Chuunin sobered.

"Not good last we heard. Tsunade-sama hasn't come back from the hospital yet though," Kotetsu said.

"I want to go and see him," Ino said, but before she could make her exit from the Hokage's Assistants, they were joined in the hallway.

"Ah, Ino-chan… I take it Shikamaru was the one who found you?" Ino swiveled her head around to see Shikaku leaving the Hokage's office, followed by Genma.

"Yes, sir," Ino bowed politely. She'd known Shikamaru's father for as long as she had known Shika, but he always slightly intimidated her with his gruff manner and super shrewd brain. He was like Shikamaru _PLUS_.

_"Precious…" _Kotetsu teased under his breath. Ino slanted him a look from the corner of her eye, assuming she was the only one who heard the spiky-haired Chuunin's exhaled remark, but when she glanced up she noticed Genma -who didn't look like he was in the best of moods to start with- narrow his eyes slightly in Kotetsu's direction.

"I'm not surprised," Shikaku continued, ignoring the ocular exchange going on beside him. "He's a resourceful one. How?" Shikaku prompted in that testing way that he had. Ino tore her eyes away from surreptitiously watching Genma glare at the Chuunin standing next to her to give her father's teammate her undivided attention.

"Oh! He…um, used an Inuzuka, sir," she informed him. Deciding against sharing the full details of _how_ said Inuzuka was put onto her trail. It was mortifying enough just thinking about how both Kiba and Chouji had been handling her unmentionables. When she had time Chouji was definitely due for another lecture on boundaries, that was for certain. And Kiba… well Kiba might still be losing a couple of teeth for being nosy just on principle.

Shikaku chuckled briefly. "They sniffed you out, eh?"

_Literally. _

Ino could feel the hot blush crawling up from the neck of her uniform shirt against her will. God, how she hated being embarrassed! _Especially_ in front of Genma. She'd rather face down a pack of Rogue nin any day. She resolutely kept her eyes off Genma, Izumo, and especially Kotetsu, who was always looking for ammunition to tease her with whenever they worked together.

"Yes, sir," Ino ground out between her teeth when she heard Izumo and Kotetsu snickering under their breath.

Shikaku, bless his heart, decided to take pity on her then and turned his attention to the two Chuunin that flanked her. "Desk is minding itself, is it?" he asked mildly. With some muttered excuses the other two beat a hasty retreat back to their stations, leaving the three alone in the hall. Shikaku looked Ino over with careful scrutiny before asking, "A scheduling mix up?"

Ino nodded in relief. "I traded shifts. Ibiki-taicho approved it, but evidently the duty log was not correctly updated. It's my fault. I'm so very sorry," she apologized bowing her head.

Shikaku patted her on the crown of her head, much as he'd done when she was a little girl. "We're going over to the hospital to check on the injured ANBU. Come along, you can make your report to Tsunade-sama there. I'm sure she can use some good news," the Elder Nara said, dropping his hand away.

Ino trailed along behind Shikaku and Genma as they made their way from the Tower to the Konoha Hospital. She tried to keep her presence minimal and not seem like she was listening as the two quietly discussed the condition of the Squads…or what was left of them. It seemed that there was no team that hadn't been affected with at least a member injured, and several of them had had members killed. Ino's Squad being the one to suffer the most casualties. The gravity of the situation weighed on Ino, making the knot of anxiety in her gut worsen.

"I suspect Godaime-sama is in her office," Shikaku pointed the way once they'd arrived at the hospital. Ino nodded her thanks.

"When you're finished we're assembling on the Tower roof at eleven hundred hours," Genma spoke to her directly for the first time. "Full gear, we're going out."

Ino's face must have conveyed her puzzlement at the statement because Shikaku explained: "Tora-taicho was killed in the explosion. Until a permanent replacement is decided upon, Genma is assuming command of _all_ the Squads. He's your Captain now." With that, Shikaku turned and headed down the hospital corridor toward the rooms where the injured ANBU were recovering.

She raised surprised, questioning eyes up to Genma's hooded ones, but he revealed nothing. There was no familiarity in his expression at all. She could have been any other shinobi in the village. "Don't be late," he told her before turning to follow Shikaku down the hall. Ino glanced at the clock above the Ward's doors. _9:50 a.m._

"Yes, _Taicho!_" she called before Genma got five steps away from her. If he could be professional. So could she.

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Ino found Tsunade easily, the Godaime Hokage was right where Shikaku had told her that she would be, in the small office she maintained at the Hospital. The room was cramped and hardly seemed befitting the medical genius that Tsunade was, but Ino realized that the tiny room was more about function. It was a lot like Ibiki's office, and Ino paused at the threshold as worry gripped her again. She raised her hand to knock on the partially open door, but pushed it open farther instead.

Tsunade sat behind her desk with her head resting on her folded arms. A cup of tea sat forgotten at her elbow, and she was sleeping on a pile of medical scrolls. Ino bit her lip in hesitation about disturbing the obviously exhausted woman, but despite her natural inclination to let the woman rest, she was also now on a timetable before she had to join the other ANBU at the Tower. She had to make her report before then, and besides…she wanted to see Ibiki if she could.

"Tsunade-sama? Ma'am…?" Ino said softly, rapping her knuckles lightly on the doorjamb as she eased into the small room. Tsunade didn't stir, and Ino leaned over the desk, reaching out to nudge the Hokage's arm. "Tsunade-sama?" she repeated a little louder.

The Hokage's head came up off of her folded arms so fast that Ino nearly jumped out of her skin. One moment the woman was drooling on her medical texts, the next she was pinning Ino to the spot with her amber brown eyes.

"Ino," she stated with no confusion or query. Like seeing her there was the most natural thing in the world. Tsunade blinked at her several more times and then yawned behind her hand. "I think I'm still asleep," she mumbled to herself before rubbing her eyes.

"No, ma'am. Yamanaka Ino, I.D. 012604, reporting," Ino told her. Tsunade nodded at her tiredly and waved her in, indicating she wanted her to shut the door and sit. When she settled into the chair, Ino gave the Hokage the same information she'd reported to her Admin's shortly before, again accepting the blame for the scheduling mixup in her Captain's stead. "I'm very sorry if I've worried anyone," she said quietly, bowing her head again.

"I can't tell you how glad I am that you weren't one of our casualties, Ino. Too many died last night," Tsunade sighed.

"Ibiki-taicho…" Ino asked, her heart slamming into her throat. "Is he going to be all right?"

Tsunade had her hands folded in front of her mouth as she rested on her elbows and looked thoughtful. "He's stable now, but I won't lie, he has a long road ahead of him, and likely several more operations. There is only so much that can be done at once to repair the damage. Still there have also been advances in medical ninjutsu since I treated Rock Lee for his crushed limbs, so I feel good about Ibiki's chances of a full recovery," Tsunade told her and gave her a spare smile. "You haven't lost your Master yet, Ino."

Ino could taste salt in the back of her throat, but it was only her will and training that kept her from letting tears fall. "Can I see him?" she asked. Tsunade shook her head.

"He's still unconscious now. Perhaps this evening if he's awake he can have a short visit. He's asked for you, you know…"

She straightened up in the chair from where she'd almost allowed herself to slump in relief at Ibiki's condition. Hearing that he'd asked for her though brought her to attention quick. "He did? When was that?"

"When they brought him out. He was in bad shape, collapsed lung, crushed bones, and yet he called for _you_," Tsunade said, watching Ino closely. "Do you know why?" the Hokage asked quietly.

"No, ma'am. Not until I can see him," Ino replied cagily. She may not have the same years of experience working with Ibiki that she had with Asuma-sensei, but because of the level of intense training that she'd done with Ibiki, Ino felt she knew him better than she did her first sensei. She and Ibiki had been inside each other's minds and in many ways that was something far more intimate than anything physical. As a result of that knowledge, Ino knew that if Ibiki had asked for her when he was in that bad of condition, he must have a damn good reason. And she wasn't speculating out loud until she found out what it was. Her Captain had taught her well about Interrogation…from both sides.

Tsunade sighed. "I know I'm going to have those two old Busybodies breathing down my neck before the morning is out about this whole thing, so I'm just going to ask it now and get it out of the way. Where were you between the hours of 9 p.m. last night and six a.m. this morning?" Tsunade questioned.

"After my shift ended at 1700 hours I met Asuma-sensei, Chouji and Shikamaru for a quick drink. From twenty hundred onward I was with…a friend," Ino hesitated.

"A friend?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow. Ino blushed slightly.

"A male friend," she amended reluctantly.

"Care to tell me who"?

Ino shook her head. "No, ma'am. Not unless ordered to do so," she murmured. Ino, ever Ibiki's dutiful apprentice could be as tight-lipped and taciturn as her Master if the occasion warranted, Tsunade noticed.

"Is he married?" the Hokage asked with a frown. Ino's mouth fell open in shock.

"_NO!"_ she blurted loudly. "How could you think that?"

"Someone else inappropriate then?" Tsunade continued, ignoring Ino's outrage.

The blonde nin's mouth shut with a snap at that and she hesitated a fraction too long before answering: "N-No…"

The Godaime Hokage sighed heavily, which Ino interpreted as disappointment. Her fingers dug into her knees as she fought down the urge to defend her choice of lover, but perceived disapproval or not, Ino knew this wasn't about her. She was glad that Shikamaru had warned her, otherwise it was possible she could make a fool of herself. Flying off the handle without all the facts. Ino knew that she was innocent, but she also understood where the suspicion could come from. She may be blonde and only half as smart as Shikamaru, but she was clever and intuitive.

"Ino…the Council has initiated an investigation into the incident. I'm sure you can grasp the severity of the matter. Beyond this direct attack on ANBU -in one of the most inaccessible places in this village- there is still the matter of the missing-nin Chigumo and the failed interrogations, the reports of unknown shinobi in the surrounding forest. There are too many coincidences here for these things not to be related," Tsunade explained.

"Clearly they are," Ino agreed.

"Everyone who had contact with Chigumo is either dead or incapacitated. Except for you, Ino. Are you certain that you don't want to tell me who you were with?"

"No, ma'am. I don't." The Hokage slammed the palm of her hand down on her desk top as she scowled at Ino.

"Damnit Ino! Why are you being stubborn about this? If you have an alibi you should just tell me. It doesn't need to go any further than this room, but I'm going to need to tell the council something to placate them," Tsunade argued.

"Tsunade-sama, I assure you that I had nothing to do with what happened. Yes, my jutsu failed during his Interrogation, but it _shouldn't_ have. I asked Ibiki-taicho to let me try again, he refused. Now I have no way to find out _why_ whatever information I learned from that man is locked up in my head, or how to get it out. I'm the _last_ person that would want to see Chigumo dead. As for needing an alibi…well, if the council asks for it, I will comply with their request of course, Tsunade-sama, but not until," Ino said firmly.

"Are you afraid that this lover wouldn't come forward if called upon? That he would hang you out to dry?"

"No, ma'am. I don't believe he'd do that. I know he would back me up, but I don't want to drag him into my problems. Not to mention I don't want us to end up as fodder for the gossips," Ino fisted her hands on her knees tightly.

Ino had definitely had enough of the shinobi rumor mill. It was just like she'd told Genma the night of his birthday, she'd been the topic of speculation and ridicule ever since she'd become a Chuunin. Always the whispers and derogatory comments about her competence as a shinobi, just because she was blonde and her chuunin outfit showed skin. It was assumed that she was weak, more concerned with her looks than her jutsu's, when Ino's logic was that if the enemy was looking at her body and underestimating her, they granted her the advantage and weren't watching what seals she made with her hands. Still the rumors had prevailed and in response she'd tried to change. She'd worked herself nearly to the bone to make the unkind comments and gossip about her die. She'd smiled through every shit mission she got sent on because the higher ups thought she was flighty and weak. Swallowed the hurt every time Asuma had chosen Shikamaru or Chouji to partner with over her. Met every criticism with kindness and more hard work. She'd about turned herself inside out to make herself better and stronger. And finally it had paid off with her promotion to Ibiki's Squad, only to now have it hanging in the balance before she could prove to her Captain that he'd made the right decision when he'd chosen her to be his apprentice.

Even worse to Ino was that despite her relative inexperience with men, rumors had continued to spread that she was easy. And no matter how many advances she gently rebuffed from the ninja who asked her out, that rumor never died. It was assumed that she was a slut, though before Genma, she'd only ever had two other lovers in her life. The first was Hyuuga Kou, the man with whom she'd done her Special Kunoichi training. He'd been an exceptional teacher, and she was glad that her first sexual encounters had been with Hinata's kind Branch Family cousin. Even more glad that so far she'd been lucky to not have to use what Kou had taught her in the line of duty. Her second lover; Sabaku no Kankuro, had also been her first serious, yet short lived relationship. She'd grown to care deeply for the Puppet Master during the ten months they'd dated, but in the end the distance had just been too great between their villages and personal goals and they'd parted as friends. Now there was Genma, a man who seemed to see her as a competent shinobi -worthy of his ANBU fiancée's blade- and a trusted friend, instead of just some blonde bimbo with a kunai. There was no way she'd drag Genma down with her when the inevitable rumors started. Not if she could protect him. And the rumors _were_ inevitable…she was reminded of how quickly they had sprung up when she'd began training with Ibiki.

"Ino…" Tsunade said gently, as she watched the warring emotions on the blonde's face. She probably knew more of the Mind Walker's thoughts than Ino would be comfortable with. She'd heard the various rumors about the blonde over the years as well. She could even say she was guilty of underestimating Ino herself considering how reluctant she'd been when Ibiki requested her for his Squad. The blonde was always being compared unfairly with her own apprentice, Sakura. Ino could appear soft and biddable when the occasion called for it, but Tsunade had also seen that the Yamanaka had a backbone of steel that put Sakura to shame. Ino had proven herself over and over, she deserved the benefit of the doubt.

The eyes Ino raised to Tsunade from her inner reflections were the same eyes that had so troubled Shikamaru earlier. Her focus was like a laser beam as she awaited the Hokage's orders.

"Report to the Interim Captain as ordered, Ino. Do not leave the village unless accompanied by your Squad until this matter is resolved. I'll handle the Council, don't worry," Tsunade told her. Ino dipped her head briefly.

"Thank you, ma'am," she replied quietly and stood.

"Dismissed!"

Between one breath and the next the blonde was gone from Tsunade's office like she'd never been there. The Godaime Hokage sighed again at the mountain of work before her and took a sip of her cold tea. She knew she was going to have to fend for herself for at least the next couple of days without her assistant, because Shizune had pretty much planted herself at Ibiki's bedside and showed no signs of leaving. What a mess for Ino to find herself in so soon after realizing her goal of becoming ANBU, what a mess for them all. Tsunade still couldn't help but wonder again if she shouldn't have left Ino in the Intelligence Division under the command of Inoichi and Aoba. Tsunade's eyes widened momentarily in recollection and she scrabbled for a report that a Chuunin had dropped off earlier before she'd taken her cat nap. Tsunade scanned the scroll and then groaned inwardly at what was noted there: _Yamanaka Inoichi - Jounin 005492/Assignment: Assist Suna ANBU Intelligence Unit, Recalled due to Death in Family (Yamanaka Ino - Chuunin 012604)._

Bureaucracy had done it's job in her stead while she'd been working to save the injured. In this case, a little too efficiently, as they'd notified Ino's father of her deceased status before they'd even confirmed it. Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes. Brilliant. Inoichi was going to come unglued…because if Tsunade recalled correctly, Inoichi had been assigned to assist the Suna ANBU _before_ his daughter's transfer out of his Department had been made official. She wasn't looking forward to _THAT _conversation...

"Godaime-sama?" a respectful male voice accompanied a soft knock to her office door.

"Come!" Tsunade called, still chewing her lower lip over the mess her Intelligence and Interrogation Divisions were in at the moment as she reviewed the latest report of the dead and injured ANBU.

"Hai! Sarugaku Tsuzumi, 010965 Reporting!"

Tsunade raised her eyes from the list of the dead to the _NOT_ dead ANBU member of Ibiki's Squad standing at attention before her in a standard Konoha uniform. The one that was supposed to have been replacing Ino on her shift the night before, was now here looking as fresh as a daisy and completely unharmed. Tsunade frowned and waved the shinobi in.

That mess was getting worse by the minute.

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Separating herself from her feelings had always been her best survival skill.

Too bad it wasn't helping her very much now.

In the silent stillness of the empty ANBU locker room, Uzuki Yuugao donned her uniform with a methodical slowness that was unlike her usual quick efficiency. Normally she could change from civilian wear to full ANBU gear in two and a half minutes, but now she'd spent three times that long just fastening her shin guards. The whole previous night- the attack on the ANBU HQ, arguing with Raidou, Shizune's fear and despair- was making her feel as though she were sinking through quicksand.

She hated fighting with Raidou the most. They almost never did, their personalities complimented each other's so well, she often took it for granted that he would always see something her way. So she knew that Raidou had no idea why she had reacted the way she did during their discussion at dinner. She'd just been so furious at his stubborn dismissal that Genma showing a romantic interest -hell, _any _interest beyond just a quick fuck- in their young blonde friend was positive progress for him. But then, unlike she and Genma, Raidou had been lucky in the fact that he'd never lost a lover. Friends, yes…they'd all lost friends, but Raidou hadn't had his heart ripped out while it was still beating the way she and Genma had. Raidou hadn't seemed to notice how his best friend had retreated from them behind his wall of jokes and one night stands after he lost Shiori. He hadn't been around to see how it had been her friend Genma -the only one who understood the depths of her devastation when she lost Hayate- that had helped to pull her back from the brink when she wanted to follow him. For that alone she'd do anything for Genma to see him be happy again…she just wished Raidou could understand why that was more important than how old Ino was.

Yuugao sighed as she dropped heavily onto the bench behind her and rested her elbows on her knees, giving up on changing for the moment. She knew the assembly time was creeping up on her, but she just couldn't get past the shock of seeing Raidou -her safe, dependable, loving Raidou- in his ANBU gear. She'd been hiding in the locker room for hours since he left, too much of a coward to go and face him. She leaned forward, letting her long violet hair hang down over her face to spill between her knees. Hayate had loved her hair long, had always liked to coil it around his fingers and use it to pull her closer for a kiss, or to whisper in her ear… Raidou loved her hair too, he liked to comb his fingers through it whenever she rested against his scarred chest after they had sex.

_Hayate and Raidou, Raidou and Hayate…_

Yuugao lifted her gaze to the inside of her locker. Here was where she chose to store her memories. She kept no photos from her past displayed in she and Raidou's apartment. They were all kept here, the inside of her locker covered with photos of the one who had meant the most to her. It was almost a shrine. Hayate's katana and bandana hitae-ate were stuffed into the very back behind her rarely used green-Konoha issued vest. Her eyes went unerringly to her favorite picture of Hayate as they always did and she could still feel the loss of him in her life, even after all these years. Her hatred and resentment of Suna might have faded over time, since as a shinobi she could understand that they had been deceived too and there was no mercy in war; but as Hayate's woman she still felt as if something vital had been ripped out of her forever with his death. Losing Hayate had nearly destroyed her when after his funeral she'd thrown herself so fully into her work, taking on more and more risky missions, like she wanted to follow Hayate into the next world. She'd felt that without him she'd had nothing. So Yuugao could understand the despair she'd seen in Shizune's eyes the night before all too well.

Because now she had Raidou. _And Dear God…what if she lost Raidou too?_

She clasped her hands together and brought them to her forehead, almost as if in prayer as raw terror gripped her again. This was a fear she lived with daily. Normally kept buried so deep she hardly acknowledged it. She didn't know if she could survive it if she lost another lover.

It had crept up on her so slowly…loving Raidou. She hadn't wanted to, hadn't _meant_ to…she'd fully intended to love only Hayate for the rest of her life, whether he'd been there to share it with her or not. But Raidou had been so persistent, so _there_, as a couple of years or so after Hayate's passing he'd started asking her out. She'd refused him so many times it almost became a joke, but in spite of how many times she told the scarred shinobi that she didn't want to get involved, that she just wanted to stay friends, how many times had he looked at her with that endearing half smile and said: _Okay, I can wait._ He'd frustrated and simultaneously terrified her with his kind nature and gentle patience. In the end after months of refusing him, it was finally Genma of all people who had asked her what exactly she was afraid of by giving Raidou a chance. She still heard Genma in her head sometimes saying that she had nothing to lose and only happiness to gain.

So she'd finally said yes to Raidou. It had been surprisingly easy and natural, falling into a relationship with him. They were so compatible, and Raidou never seemed to resent that at first Hayate's memory was always there between them. Over time, Yuugao had let herself be lulled and comforted by the depths of Raidou's love for her, yet she still felt guilty for how much of herself she held back from him. Hayate's death had scarred her, and like it had with Genma, it kept her from letting anyone get too close. Genma dealt with his fear of letting anyone back into his heart by spreading himself around. At least Genma was honest, Yuugao felt she was somehow worse for denying Raidou the knowledge of how she truly felt about him. He wasn't Hayate's replacement, he'd become so dear to her in his own right, but the thought of something happening to him -of Raidou leaving her alone like Hayate did- strangled any confession that would ease the longing she sometimes saw in Raidou's eyes whenever he told her he loved her.

Yuugao wiped the wetness from her cheeks with the back of one gloved hand. Tears she hadn't been aware of shedding clumping her eyelashes together. She was a coward. A coward for hiding…not just in the ANBU locker room, but in her relationship. Raidou was a good man. He deserved better than what she gave him, but she was so selfish. Selfish for wanting to keep him for herself no matter what. She knew she was hurting him by trying to protect her own heart, but who was she kidding? It was too late…he was already in there. Sniffling, Yuugao scrubbed at her face with her hands and raised her head. She was better than this. Better than giving into self-pity and fear. She was an ANBU Kunoichi, best of the best. Raidou was elite as well, she'd do well to remember that. How many times had he already come home injured from missions? Yet he still came home to _her._ She needed to stop being afraid of things she couldn't control. It was ridiculous if you thought about it…how hard could it be to tell her lover, the man she'd _lived with_ for the last two and a half years, that she loved him?

"Raidou…I love you," she mouthed silently, trying it out. "I love you," she whispered a little louder. Perhaps it wouldn't be as hard as she'd imagined. True, she _was_ saying the words to a locker full of Hayate's photos, and Raidou was nowhere in sight. It had always been easy to tell Hayate that she loved him. Once she'd even screamed it to the entire Village from the top of the Hokage monument. Much to Hayate's mortification and Genma and Shiori's amusement. She could do this. If she could give the best of herself to Hayate, she could do the same for Raidou. She would tell the man she loved her true feelings, he deserved no less.

With a new resolve, Yuugao quickly finished putting her uniform on and closed her locker firmly after retrieving her mask and sword. "I love you," she said to her _Neko_ mask, trying to imagine it was Raidou. "You're the most important person in the world to me, Raidou…I love you," she expounded. Theorizing that every time she said it it'd get easier. So far so good. She smiled widely. "Raidou, you are my heart. You mean everything to me, and I love you," she practiced. It almost made her giddy to say it out loud and she flung her arms out to the sides.

_"I love you!"_ she all but shouted to the empty locker room.

"Gosh, I love you too, _Senpai_…"

Yuugao whipped around embarrassed as Ino walked by to her locker. A sly, knowing grin playing around the blonde's lips. "Ino-chan!" Yuugao exclaimed. "I…uh…err…" she stammered as she blushed. Ino just laughed.

"I heard what you said, I know you weren't talking to me, don't worry," the blonde chuckled. Setting her _kodachi_ into her locker and untying the sash at her waist before she shrugged out of the long violet tunic she was wearing.

Yuugao cleared her throat nervously. In the grand scheme of things if she _had_ to humiliate herself in front of a colleague by practicing her love confession, a confession meant for her own boyfriend- _Really, how dense could she be? she wondered_- she was glad it was her favorite little _kohai._

"So…" Ino prompted as she took her vest out of her locker and turned to face Yuugao. "You can't let _that_ go by unexplained," Ino teased with a grin.

"Well," Yuugao started thoughtfully, "I suppose you could say I had an epiphany."

"Oh?" Ino replied, though her attention was more on trying to put her ANBU vest on properly. "What kind?"

Yuugao stepped forward and helped the blonde settle the vest on her torso properly and adjust the fit so that the garment would go on and off easier. "Just that I finally realized how amazing what I've had right in front of me is," Yuugao told her friend quietly. Ino's grin looked fit to split her face she was smiling so widely.

"Yeah?" she questioned happily. "Good for you, _Senpai_. I'm happy for you," Ino said. "When you gonna tell _him_ that?"

"First chance I get," Yuugao laughed, her eyes still sparkling with tears as she gave Ino's vest one last adjustment and then stepped back from the blonde. "There. That should work better."

"Thanks," the blonde replied, then turned back to her locker to don her gloves and gauntlets. On a whim she grabbed a hair tie and pulled the front of her hair up and back into a top knot, leaving the back down. "This doesn't look completely ridiculous, does it?" Ino pointed to her hair. "Gen- I mean, I was told that I should look more…inconspicuous," she said by way of explanation.

Yuugao shook her head as she settled her _Ninjaken_ onto her back. "No. It's a good idea to wear your hair differently than you do day to day. I never do because frankly, short of covering it up everyone knows it's me anyway. I'm the only purple-haired ninja in the Village," Yuugao laughed.

When Ino pulled the _kodachi_ she'd set aside out of her locker to attach to the back of her vest, Yuugao again stepped up to help her. She froze however, when Ino passed the blade to her over her shoulder.

"Wh-where did you get this?" Yuugao asked hollowly. Ino turned around slowly. She hadn't given any thought to her _senpai's_ possible reaction to seeing her with Shiori's blade. The two had evidently been close, judging from the picture Ino had seen at Genma's. In fact they would have been sisters by marriage had Hayate lived. Ino bit her lip at her potential faux paux.

"Genma gave it to me," Ino told her softly.

Yuugao clutched the blade to her chest a moment and closed her eyes. Tears once again breaching her eyelids. She had no words to express to the blonde how it gladdened her heart to see her with Shiori's sword. That the first chinks in the armor around Genma's heart were finally starting to show thanks to the young blonde.

"I'm sorry," Ino apologized, taking Yuugao's happy tears for pain. "I didn't mean to upset you! I don't know why he gave it to me, anyway. I told him not to," Ino explained plaintively. Yuugao shook her head once the blonde started apologizing and put her hand on the younger woman's arm comfortingly.

"No, no…this is a _good_ thing, Ino-chan… A very good thing." Yuugao turned the blonde around and attached the scabbard of the blade to Ino's vest, where she would be able to reach over her shoulder and draw the short blade. "It's time he started letting go of her," she finished under her breath. Ino turned back around, still looking unsure.

"It doesn't make you mad? Me having Gekkou-san's blade?"

"Makes me hopeful," Yuugao smiled. Ino smiled back tentatively.

"With any luck I'll never have to use it before I can get my own. I had basic bladed weapons training, but I'll probably be horrible with it."

"You'll be fine. If you want, after patrol let's go over to the Training Grounds and I'll work with you on it. Okay?"

"If you have the time, that would be great! Thanks, _Senpai!" _Ino said happily.

Yuugao tugged at the elbow of her _kohai_, pulling her with her towards the door. The violet-haired kunoichi grinned at the blonde as they made their way out of the locker room.

"So…how was dinner, Tiger?" Yuugao drawled slyly. Ino's eyes widened in embarrassment.

_"Senpai!"_

Her heart much lighter than it had been all night, Yuugao just threw back her head and laughed.

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_Footnote: This chapter threatened to be another monster, so I've decided to split it up into 2-3 parts. _

_As always, thanks for reading. Reviews are the icing on the cake to a writer. I'd love to hear from you! Until next time…_


	11. The Long Day: Morning

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is a derivative fiction based on. Gekkou Shiori and Hitomaru are creations of mine, however._

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_Hokage Tower, Council Offices, 10:35 a.m._

The sun reflected brightly off of the glass-fronted portraits of the former Hokage's, sending shards of brilliant light right into Genma's eyes as he knelt gracefully on the floor. The Elders, Homura and Koharu had left him there, deferentially cooling his heels for the last ten minutes as they clucked together going over scrolls and preliminary reports from the previous nights attack. They'd summoned him -conveniently ignoring his current reassignment- and then ignored him once he arrived. It wasn't the first time they'd done this to him in the last nine years since he'd left the ANBU -and Genma was sure it wouldn't be the last- but today, with the morning he'd had…it was sorely testing his patience.

He was agitated for several reasons. The most minor being the growing itch on the back of his right calf that he couldn't do a damn thing about given his current position. He was starting to understand some of Raidou's pissy mood from earlier, as he was currently awaiting his audience with the Elders wearing full ANBU gear. Only his mask was tipped up, and he couldn't even take out a senbon to chew on and relax himself until they acknowledged him. Like it'd been for Raidou, it had been too long since Genma'd worn the uniform and he felt strangely exposed. It just felt…weird. He hadn't had his arms and shoulders bared in public for years, the habit of keeping his former affiliation covered was second nature. He wasn't used to it yet, and kneeling on the floor -for no damn good reason he could ascertain- in the unfamiliar garb was just irritating him.

Almost as much as this new assignment was.

Genma sighed silently and lowered his head more to block out the reflective glare from the glass drilling into his eyes. He didn't want to take over the Squad's. Not even for one day and he'd argued the temporary assignment with Shikaku bitterly. He could complain to the Jounin Commander in a way he'd never allow himself to gripe to the Council or Hokage, but despite all his protests Shikaku had still been implacable; Genma was the only one qualified enough, it had to be him, and so on and so forth. Genma thought it was a load of bullshit, Kakashi was just as qualified or even more so. Even that _kohai_ of Yuugao and Kakashi's -the wood user…what's-his-face with the scary eyeballs that had become Naruto's babysitter- would be a better choice in Genma's no so esteemed opinion. But they hadn't _asked_ him, so here he was. Stuck.

He flicked his eyes up briefly, trying to judge if he could get away with a quick scratch of his calf while they weren't looking, but he decided against it. The Elder's had sharper eyes then they let on and fidgeting now would just add another five minutes onto his waiting. He'd been at their beck and call for too long to expect any different. Those two loved the power trip of making anyone they summoned wait. Genma was just unfortunate that he still subscribed to the old manners and always knelt in their presence.

Ino used the old manners too on occasion he'd noticed from her interaction earlier with Shikaku. It had surprised him actually. He'd observed over the course of time that most of her generation treated their _senpai's_ and leaders in a surprisingly casual manner. Especially Naruto. Sometimes the way the Kyuubi container spoke to Tsunade-sama made Genma very glad _he_ wasn't Naruto's sensei. Because he definitely would have beaten some manners into the kid years ago if he was. How Kakashi had put up with it he'd never know.

At least the other younger kunoichi weren't as bad as Naruto and his buddies. In addition to Ino, he'd noticed the Hyuuga girl was excessively polite. Then again she was the type that looked like she'd bolt if you said 'Boo' to her. Sakura he just didn't care for all that much. She was a excellent medic, but he couldn't say he found that violent streak of hers appealing _at all_ and he usually avoided dealing with her if at all possible. No, of the younger crowd -he hated that he even thought of them that way since they were _all_ shinobi- he had to say the only one remotely pleasant for him to interact with, male or female, was Ino.

Which brought his thinking back to the last reason he was irritated. _Ino._ Not her personally, but the situation around them. He wasn't liking the fact that Aoba, who'd _never_ been able to keep his mouth shut when it counted _before_, had dirt on him. He could only intimidate the other Tokubetsu Jounin so much, he'd known Aoba since they were in the Academy together after all, so Aoba knew he couldn't hold a grudge forever. Genma also didn't appreciate Aoba's automatic disbelief that Ino would date him. Or the hissy-fit Raidou was throwing about Ino's age. The age difference didn't bother Genma, if it had he'd have never gotten intimate with the blonde in the first place, but Raidou's comments were getting under his skin in a way he didn't like at all, and he found himself wishing not for the first time that morning that Raidou had just kept his fat trap shut. Not because he was embarrassed or ashamed about sleeping with Ino, but because it was none of anybody's fucking business. Sure, Genma slept around, everyone knew it, but they rarely knew _who_ he did it with. He suspected the Kunoichi's traded enough info about him amongst themselves, but it rarely got out. Normally, he would care less if the gossips ferreted out anything about his exploits, mostly because he never did repeats, so what did it matter really?

With Ino it was different. He hadn't felt the usual need to move on immediately after they'd slept together. He'd _liked_ waking up next to her, showering with her, and their lengthy goodbye at the door before they'd parted for the day. Make no mistake, Genma wasn't ready to dive head first back into the relationship thing yet…and parts of the previous night -like sharing with Ino about Shiori- had been downright uncomfortable for him, but the good parts outweighed the bad. He didn't know yet where he wanted this thing with Ino to go. He liked her and he knew he wanted more than one night, but he wasn't sure how much more. So Yamashiro Aoba: Master Rumor Spreader and Gossip, knowing about it, and Raidou, with his snarky comments about them dating all were rubbing him the wrong way. Especially since now, thanks to his annoying new assignment, she was technically his subordinate. Which automatically put her 'off limits' to him, and that _would_ be the easiest excuse out for him to stop seeing her, but…he didn't really want to. And wasn't that just the biggest rub of all?

When a shadow suddenly blocked the glare from the sun, Genma glanced up to see who was standing there, hoping it would be one of the Elders so he could find out at last what the two wanted before he was late for his first Squad meeting. He tried to hide his frown of disappointment when it turned out to be just another ANBU shinobi.

"The latest intel, Elder-sama," Raidou said quietly and handed Homura a scroll.

Homura took the scroll and then nodded to where Genma was still kneeling in his patch of sun on the floor. "Wait there," he told him and then took the scroll back to the table where he and Koharu were ponderously going over the situation. Raidou knelt at Genma's side, mirroring his position, but left his _tori_ mask lowered.

"Been waiting long?" Raidou murmured quietly, and Genma wasn't imagining he could hear that sarcastic tone in his friend's voice.

"Piss off," Genma muttered without moving his lips. Raidou chuckled softly behind his mask, those two words telling him all he needed to know about the other man's mood.

As Genma pointedly ignored Raidou, he started listening to what the Elders across the room were discussing. His attention was especially grabbed when he heard them quietly mention Ino several times. From what he could hear it seemed the Elders were more concerned about the fact that Ino had survived unscathed than being glad that she actually had. To top it off they also seemed displeased about something in the scroll that Raidou had brought them…it sounded like another of Ino's team who had thought to be missing or deceased had reported in, and that fact wasn't helping Ino's case in their eyes.

"Genma," Koharu addressed him at last. "We wanted you to know that we were the ones who recommended that you take over the ANBU Squad's in the interim," she told him. Sounding like she was conferring onto him the world's greatest favor. Genma hoped his expression was as neutral as he could make it since he was dying a little inside to hear it.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said quietly, trying not to grit his teeth. He could hear a strangled snort coming from behind the bird mask next to him and he whole-heartedly and devoutly hoped that Raidou choked on it.

"Yamanaka Ino, a new ANBU recruit, will be under your command now. Do you know her?" Homura asked him, folding his hands behind his back. Genma tensed subtly. Did they know? If they did and Genma found out that it was because of Aoba he was going to personally rip his tongue out and nail it to the nearest wall with senbon. Because if he thought Raidou was disapproving about him seeing Ino he could only imagine what the Elders would think. It was a hassle he didn't need given the newness of he and Ino's affair.

Genma nodded briskly. "Inoichi's daughter," he confirmed, "why?"

"Two members of Ibiki's Squad were unaccounted for last night. Sarugaku Tsuzumi and the Yamanaka girl. Sarugaku was scheduled off-duty, but Yamanaka was not. There are claims it was a scheduling mixup, but there is no accounting for her whereabouts," Koharu said. "When a patrol was sent to her residence she was not there, despite it being the middle of the night." Genma said nothing, praying that Raidou would hold his tongue as well.

"We summoned you because as the Yamanaka girl and her teammate Sarugaku will both be assigned to you we wanted you to be apprised of the situation," Homura said.

"Yes, sir," Genma replied, breathing an inward sigh of relief. It seemed Koharu on the other hand wasn't ready to let him off the hook just yet.

"As both of them are fairly recent transfers to Ibiki's personal team. I'd like you to keep an eye on them, Genma, -you too, Raidou- and let us know about any suspicious activity. Especially from the Yamanaka girl, as she is the one with no alibi for her whereabouts," Koharu ordered.

Genma cleared his throat quietly. "Does her teammate have one?" he asked them. Homura frowned and adjusted his glasses before picking up the scroll again.

"Just that he was off-duty. Home alone all night and reported to Tsunade-hime at the hospital less than an hour ago," Homura informed them.

"In what capacity are they to be watched?" Raidou asked. Homura cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"It's not an official request," Koharu answered quickly. "Just a favor to us...ne, Genma?" she said and then favored Genma with a small smile. He supposed she was trying to look grandmotherly when she did it, but Genma had never been fooled. He was full aware of what a crafty old broad she was. If he thought he was stuck before.

"You two may go."

Once the Elders dismissed them Raidou wasted no time laying into him once they were away from the Council's offices.

"Well, that was asking the fox to watch the henhouse," Raidou chuckled, tipping his mask up on his head. "You gonna do it?"

"Don't have much choice, do I?" Genma groused at him and popped a senbon back into his mouth to chew on furiously. Raidou fisted his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course you do. March back in there and tell them you can't because spying on your girlfriend is unethical." Genma folded his arms over his chest defensively.

"She's not," Genma started, but Raidou throwing up his hands in exasperation cut him off.

"Fucking semantics! You were…_are? _Intimate with her," Raidou explained as if to a child. "You have intimate knowledge _of her_, and she is your _subordinate_ now. I shouldn't have to explain this shit to you, you're the one who's so by-the-goddamn-book all the time. Not to mention what she'd probably do to your balls if she found out about it. Kunoichi can be vicious!"

Genma scowled, and before he could even reply to that little bomb of Raidou's, _of course_ they were joined by probably the _last_ person that Genma wanted to see that morning.

"I don't believe it! I'm seeing it with my own eyes and I _still_ can't fucking believe it! Genma…you got screwed, my man!" Asuma bellowed as soon as he came around the curve of the hallway and saw them. He laughed loudly at Genma's grouchy expression and pounded him on the back of his vest, his lit cigarette dangling from his grinning lips. "Happy Fucking Birthday, right?" the bearded jounin laughed jovially. Raidou naturally joined right in.

"Better him than me," Raidou said smugly.

"You both suck," Genma informed them sourly.

Asuma punched him lightly in the arm, right on his ANBU tattoo. "'Once you're in, you're never out', huh Genma? Isn't that the rule? Why do you think I never joined that chicken outfit?"

"Because they wouldn't take you?" Genma asked sarcastically. Asuma flipped him off, but was still grinning broadly.

"Why're you so happy this morning?" Raidou asked, folding his arms over his broad chest. "I'd have thought with the news going around you'd be madder than hell…" Genma's scowl got darker as he glared at Raidou from the corner of his eye. Asuma shook his head as he took a drag from his cigarette.

"No, you guys must not have heard yet…Ino, my student, she's actually okay. I haven't seen her yet to kick her skinny little butt for scaring Chouji and Shikamaru like she did, but it turns out she wasn't on duty last night. Such a relief!" Asuma laughed. "I swear that girl just took _another_ ten years off my life. Never take a Genin team, guys. Trust me on this one! If you do…don't get one with a girl on it."

Raidou smirked inwardly, Asuma had been just as worried, if not more so, the night before. He wasn't fooling anyone.

"That _is_ good news," Raidou nodded sympathetically, "so where was she? I thought they sent someone to check her place?"

Asuma frowned a bit, "Huh…you're right. I have no idea, I'll have to ask her when I see her I guess," the bearded jounin shrugged. "I'm sure she's told someone when she checked in."

"I'm sure Genma knows," Raidou said, turning toward where Genma was standing with his fists in his pockets, trying to seem casual and unaffected. "He's the new boss, so Ino's _under _him now," Raidou grinned. Luckily Asuma seemed oblivious to Raidou's double entendre and Genma's rising anger. Asuma snapped his fingers.

"That's right, with Ibiki injured Ino gonna be cycled into the regular Squads. Hey man, do me a favor…look after her for me. She'd kill me if she heard me say this, but…" Asuma chuckled, scratching his beard. "I know she's a good kunoichi, but she's still just such a kid. Don't let her get herself hurt, okay? I wouldn't want to have to kick your ass for letting anything happen to my girl."

Genma tried to grin and look casual, but he was sure he looked more pained than anything else. "Sure," he managed to choke out between his clenched teeth.

Raidou, always helpful, draped his arm over Genma's shoulders and offered their younger friend a thumbs up. "Don't worry! I'll make sure the Captain here isn't too _hard_ on her," he grinned. Asuma clapped Genma on the arm, none too gently. The man never did know his own strength and Genma tried not to flinch.

"Good deal! Thanks, my man!" Asuma tossed a wave over his shoulder as he left. Genma's calm expression fell away with Asuma's departure, but unfortunately for Raidou, he wasn't paying close enough attention.

Raidou just smirked as he leaned on Genma, his arm still slung companionably around his shoulder. "This shit just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? I mean first the Council, now Asuma…if they had _any_ idea what was really going on they'd shit their pants or have you strung up."

Genma grabbed Raidou by the front of the vest and before the taller shinobi could react, Genma spun him and slammed him back into the wall hard. His angry face in Raidou's startled one.

"You really need to cut this shit out _now,_ Raidou," Genma hissed. "Because you are seriously starting to piss me off!"

Raidou's eyebrows went up. "That so?" He flicked his eyes down to where Genma had his forearm nearly across his windpipe, and then back up into the furious brown eyes only inches from his. "_Look_ at yourself…what the fuck is wrong with you? I have never seen you lose your cool like this…let alone over a woman."

Genma dropped his eyes, but didn't let go of the taller man. "I know…" he sighed, the fight going out of him.

Raidou rolled his eyes. He knew he'd been being a jerk and foisting his rotten mood off onto his best friend, but now he had to say, after witnessing the emotional roller coaster Genma was on he was kinda feeling a little bad for how hard he'd been riding him about being involved with Ino. He didn't approve by a long shot, and he still thought Genma must be having some kind of bizarre mid-life crisis, but Genma _was_ his best friend, and he wasn't such a douche that he wouldn't help his friend find a way out of the corner he'd gotten himself into.

"And I can't talk you into going back into that office and telling them you won't do their little 'favor', right?" Raidou sighed. Genma shook his head slowly.

"And tell 'em what? 'Sorry I can't watch the Yamanaka girl, unless while I'm screwing her counts'?" Genma scoffed. Raidou winced.

"You shouldn't be screwing her at all, you know," he chided, unable to help himself. Genma's fists tightened in his ANBU vest again.

"Please don't start that shit again. Especially about her age. That's _your_ hangup, not mine," Genma said wearily.

"Yeah, yeah. Well. Fuck… Only one thing _to _do then," Raidou sighed. Genma looked up at him slowly. "You watch that Sarugaku guy. I'll keep an eye on Ino."

Genma just blinked at him and Raidou smirked. "What? You'd have figured out that loophole yourself if you didn't have your head shoved so far up your own ass. It was pretty fucking obvious."

"You…" Genma started, suddenly at a loss for words which rarely happened with him. Raidou was right, if he wasn't so blinded by worry and confusion over this thing with Ino, he'd have been able to see it. What _was_ wrong with him today?

"…Are bailing your sorry ass out again. You're welcome. And you're gonna owe me," Raidou replied smugly and pushed Genma back. "Now come on, we're gonna be late."

* * *

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_Hokage Tower Roof, 11:09 a.m._

Ino tried not to drool as she watched Genma surreptitiously from behind her _Saru_ mask. She knew it…she was totally right. He _was_ the hottest thing she'd ever seen in his ANBU uniform. And even though she couldn't see his face behind the _Usagi_ mask he was wearing, she'd know him anywhere from that casual hip-shot stance he always had. She knew his body, the shape and size of it intimately, even after only one night together. And she knew his chakra, like a pulse behind her eyes. He'd also done something with his hair, pulling the back part into a short ponytail, probably so he'd look different than he did in his regular uniform, since he couldn't wear his bandana hitae-ate with an ANBU uniform. Seeing that made her glad now that she'd taken the extra minute to change her own hairstyle as well, remembering his advice from the night before about sticking out and blending in.

No identifying marks, no corpse left behind. Those were the rules in the ANBU.

Genma turned away to speak with some other ANBU and Ino continued her private inventory of his body. Admiring the definition in his biceps that the sleeveless turtleneck showed off so well. And she had to be liking the fact that those ANBU pants were more form fitting than the general uniform pants were. They definitely flattered…everything.

"Stop staring..." Yuugao whispered in her ear as she sidled closer. Ino blushed that she'd been caught.

"I'm not staring," she whispered back defensively to the violet haired kunoichi at her side.

"…And drooling," Yuugao added quietly. Behind her mask, Ino's eyebrow twitched. How the…?

"How the hell can you tell I'm drooling?" Ino hissed.

"Because _I'M_ staring and drooling," Yuugao chuckled under her breath as she watched Raidou where he stood a few feet apart from Genma with his arms folded over his chest.

Ino shook with the effort to not break into nervous giggles and appear unprofessional, but she couldn't help it and a few leaked out. Yuugao grabbed her hand briefly and squeezed reassuringly before letting go.

"You'll be fine," she told her quietly, "most of the time nothing even happens on patrol. If it does, the training takes over and your body will just react, I promise."

"Thanks, _Senpai,"_ Ino whispered. Yuugao had said exactly the right thing. Ino tipped her head slightly towards her older friend, while still keeping an eye on Genma as she waited for him to get started with the new temporary Squad Assignments.

"So, when are you going to confess to Raidou-_senpai_?" Ino asked her quietly.

"There's a perfect moment for everything, when that moment comes the perfect words will flow like an unstemmed tide…" Yuugao murmured poetically.

"Huh?"

"When the very thought of doing it doesn't make me feel like I'm gonna upchuck," Yuugao translated. Ino chuckled.

"Nervous, much?"

"Oh, you have no idea…" the violet haired woman muttered.

"What is it that we're waiting for?" an impatient voice from Ino's left said as he moved up to stand next to her. Ino glanced over to see Neji in his _tatsu_ mask, his arms folded over his chest. There were several bandages, white and bright on his arms. "Time spent standing around is time better spent training," he complained. Ino made a face that thankfully he couldn't see.

"Says the man just out of the hospital. Sheesh, Neji!" Ino murmured. The red and white _tatsu_ mask turned slowly toward her and she realized her goof. "_Tatsu-san_, sorry…" she grumbled. Yuugao chuckled softly.

"S'okay, Ino-chan. It's just us here. Don't let Dragon-boy there intimidate you," Yuugao told her with a pat on the back. Neji just sniffed haughtily from behind his mask as he turned back to watch the proceedings or lack thereof.

"_Are_ you okay? I mean…I heard you were injured last night too," Ino softly asked the long-haired shinobi next to her. Neji shifted his weight and relaxed his posture somewhat.

"Yeah, it wasn't that bad though. I got lucky. Tsunade-sama cleared me for duty. She said I could take a day off, but with all the teams being short handed I'd have just felt guilty," Neji told her. Ino nodded.

Ino wanted to ask him about what he'd seen the night before and what happened, but she didn't think now was the time or the place. There were more ANBU on the roof than she'd ever seen at once before. Many of the masks were unfamiliar, and Ino wondered if they were temporary replacements called back to duty like Raidou and Genma were. Ino looked around to see if she spotted silver hair -Sakura had told her once that her sensei had been a former ANBU- but if Kakashi was there the hair was covered.

"Think they recalled Kakashi-sensei?" Ino asked Yuugao quietly.

"Not a chance. Knowing him he got himself the first available mission to the farthest available destination rather than come back," she laughed. "I'm betting Genma's just wishing _HE_ thought of that!"

Ino glanced back over toward the Captain and saw that Genma's _usagi_ mask was facing her direction. She couldn't tell from where she was if he was looking at her, or Yuugao, or Neji, or any of the other ANBU clustered around them, but she straightened her shoulders a little anyway, feeling Shiori's _kodachi_ shift on her back with the movement. She wouldn't disappoint him.

Behind his _Usagi_ mask Genma sighed and wished again that the mask could accommodate him having a senbon between his lips. He pulled a small scroll from his back pouch and unrolled it. He'd stalled long enough, it was time to get the show on the road. He sensed Raidou stepping up even with him on his right, and then three other higher level ANBU that he'd spoken with while they were waiting on his left. Five teams were all they could scrape up on such short notice, almost half of what there were normally.

Without looking up he blandly read off the Squad assignments, sensing more than watching as the shinobi sorted themselves from a loose group in front of him, to ordered ranks before their Team Leaders. When he looked up again his eyes immediately picked out Ino and her goofy little topknot of blonde hair as she stood at attention behind Neji in Raidou's group. Genma was a body short in his group with just Yuugao and that huge bear of a teammate she had, Tamotsu. Consulting his scroll, it looked like Genma's missing man was Sarugaku Tsuzumi. Raidou was a man short as well, so Genma went ahead and dismissed the other three teams, sending them on their routine patrols.

Before he could consult with Raidou about whether they should consolidate their teams or what, two ANBU landed on the roof before him and kneeled deferentially. One wore an _Ushi_ mask and had spiky hair of a rather indiscriminate ashy brown, and the other wore a _Hebi_ mask and had longish dark blonde hair. Genma didn't immediately recognize either of them. That wasn't that unusual, considering how long he'd been out of the Squad's.

"Apologies for our tardiness, _Taicho,_ Tsunade-sama just now cleared us for duty," the _Ushi__-_masked one said politely. At Genma's nod the two rose and stood before him waiting for orders.

"Which one of you is Sarugaku?" Genma asked. The _Ushi_-masked shinobi took a step forward.

"I am, sir."

From the corner of his eye he could see it as Ino stiffened. Her body was too still and her head slowly turned toward the man in front of Genma and stayed there. He couldn't see her eyes behind her Monkey mask, but he could feel the intensity of Ino's stare. Sarugaku Tsuzumi was the man who was supposed to have been covering her shift. He could imagine Ino, under as much scrutiny as anyone could be short of being accused of wrong doing outright, was probably burning with questions for the man. _Sorry, darlin'. You're gonna have to wait,_ he thought to himself.

"You're with us," he told Tsuzumi, indicating Yuugao, Tamotsu, and himself. The other _Hebi_ masked shinobi silently went and took a place behind Ino.

"Right then," Raidou said, his voice hollow behind the green and white _Tori_ mask. "We're gone."

When the other four had disappeared from the roof, Genma took stock of his group. Yuugao was staring off in the direction that Raidou had gone and he knew her much too well to not notice the tension and worry in her body. He understood her better than she thought after all they'd been through together as friends and he had a pretty good guess that seeing Raidou back in Black Ops had thrown her. He didn't need her distracted though and he reached out and rapped the forehead of her Cat mask briskly to focus her. Her head whipped around to face him and he could tell she was none too happy with him.

"Doubt him now and you never knew him at all," Genma told her bluntly.

After a moment she gave him a quick nod and Genma knew her head was back in the game. Which was exactly what he needed, she and Tamotsu on their toes. Genma was a pretty quick judge of character, and after two minutes and less than twenty words, he already knew he didn't like Sarugaku. There was something just…off about him. Which also made him glad that Raidou had suggested that he keep an eye on him, because for some reason he did not want to let the man anywhere near Ino. Call it a gut reaction, and likely a ridiculous one, but there it was. As Ino's alibi he knew as well as she did that she'd been nowhere near the Interrogation Room that night, which meant that _if_ there really was a traitor, the odds were high that it was the man in the Ox mask. Ino's teammate.

Which meant Genma planned on keeping a very close eye on him indeed.

* * *

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_Noon…_

Yamashiro Aoba was feeling pretty good about himself and the day so far. Despite being in possession of what may very well be the hottest bit of gossip he'd gotten in ages, _so far_ he'd managed to keep it to himself.

Well...the really juicy part of it anyway.

He actually kinda considered it a public service that he'd informed any and every-one who would hold still that Yamanaka Ino was in fact intact and _not_ blown to itty bitty smithereens. He'd felt it was his civic duty, especially given that his _taicho_ was out of the village on a mission, to spread the word of her not-death. Inoichi would be so pleased - if none the wiser - that his subordinate had also preserved his precious baby's reputation by not saying where she was, or with who. Might even be a raise in there for him somewhere if he played it right. Of course Aoba, being Aoba, conveniently and routinely forgot (or downright ignored) his previous hand in disseminating the untrue rumors about Ino and Ibiki. At the moment though, Aoba was all virtue and light as he made his way down the street toward the shopping district. He'd get lunch and pick up a new uniform shirt and then shove the receipt for it into that grouchy bastard Shiranui's locker.

Lucky fucker…the man gets a hot, _young,_ piece of tail and then can't even have the good grace to let the rest of them speculate about it.

So absorbed was he in his thoughts that he never noticed the shinobi coming at him from behind at full speed until he was tackled. Air whoofed out of him as he and the body that collided with him went end over end three times before Aoba ended up on his back spread eagled. His sunglasses knocked off and he squinted up at the person straddling him, their hands holding his shoulders down. The midday sun was behind them outlining his attacker in a corona of light.

"Whu-?" Aoba started dazedly, wondering _why_ he was flat on his back in the middle of the street.

"You've been holding out on me," Anko said, looming over him with a maniacal grin.

"What?" he puzzled again. Anko patted his cheek, though her pats were more akin to slaps.

"Snap out of it, Yamashiro. I didn't knock you too hard and addle your feeble little brains now did I?"

Aoba narrowed his eyes even more at her. "Oh, Ha. Ha," he quipped sarcastically. "Where are my glasses?" he grumbled, casting around for them, even as he was still spread eagled in the middle of the road. Ignoring the Snake Kunoichi who let go of his shoulders for a second, and then resettled herself right on top of his junk. Anko cleared her throat meaningfully and when he looked up she was twirling his sunglasses between her fingers.

"You have something to tell me?" she purred with a sly grin. Aoba grabbed for his sunglasses, but she held them out of reach. "Ne, Aoba-chan?" she teased.

"Yeah, get the hell off me," Aoba growled, grabbing for his shades again. Anko laughed throatily.

"That has to be the first time you've ever said _that_ to me, Aoba-_chaannn_…" she taunted him. Dangling the sunglasses above his nose. Aoba blushed. "Now come on…isn't there something you want to share with your buddy? Some nice juicy tidbit that's just dying to come out?"

Aoba cleared his throat uncomfortably. "No," he choked out hesitantly. Trying to the ignore the fact that Anko sitting square on top of him was not going unremarked upon by certain parts of his anatomy. _Way to not be suave, dumbass!_ he admonished himself. The sly sliver of teeth showing in her grin went devious as she held the earpiece of his shades between her teeth and squinted at him, tipping her head to the side.

"Sure about that? There's _nothing_ I can do to get you to…_spill_?" Anko asked. His growing discomfiture told her whatever he was holding back was gonna be worth it. She shifted her weight, testing his increasing interest in where she was currently sitting. Lucky for her -or maybe she should feel sorry for him- he was so intent on looking her in the face, he was missing the fact that if he bothered to look down he'd be getting a pretty good eyeful right up her skirt. Oh well, it wasn't like she hung around with Aoba for his brains. Good thing she found the Special Jounin so entertaining, and from what she could gather from what was developing underneath her she might have other uses for the older shinobi too.

"Well? Not gonna tell me?" she pouted. Aoba's eyes shifted around nervously and he cleared his throat again.

"I'm not gonna tell you anything in the middle of the damn road with half the Village watching!" Aoba hissed.

Anko looked up and around to see that the two of them had drawn quite a crowd. About fifteen Civilians and a couple of Shinobi stood around them in a loose semi-circle. Anko scowled.

"WHAT?" she demanded loudly. "This is a _private_ conversation, _if. You. Don't. Mind." _Anko pulled her legs up and rested her elbows on her knees, still sitting square on top of her prone source of juicy gossip. This time Aoba did glance down to see everything Anko did (and didn't) wear under the miniskirt and promptly got a nosebleed. Anko patted/slapped him again briefly. "Hang in there, Yamashiro…ain't done with ya yet."

Aoba just moaned weakly as he nearly passed out from blood loss. In fact he wasn't even sure there should be enough blood in his head to support a nosebleed. He didn't know whether to thank the Gods or curse them that Anko didn't sit like a lady. Thankfully for Aoba's continued health and sanity, Anko finally stood up and started making shooing gestures at the assembled crowd.

"Go on! Go back to your business! Nothing to see here! Move along!" Most of the Villagers moved off, chuckling or shaking their heads at the antics of crazy shinobi. One person stood fast and Anko leaned over slightly to glare into the deep brown eyes of a certain Sarutobi, hands fisted on her slim hips. "I said beat it, Brat!" Anko scowled.

"I don't hafta! You ain't the boss of me, Granny! It's a free road!" Konohamaru yelled back. Not intimidated by her in the least. How adorable! His overconfidence reminded her why she loved her job. Anko smiled predatorily and caught his chin between her fingers. "Well, aren't you just a cutie. Asuma's nephew, right? How old are you now? You going to be entering the next Chuunin exam, cutie pie?"

"Fourteen," Konohamaru said, jerking his face back from Anko's hold. "And I'm not just entering the exam…I'm gonna pass it! Just you wait!" he boasted. Anko rested her hands on her thighs as she leaned over. Konohamaru hadn't hit his growth spurt yet, so he was still on the short and slender side for his age, but Anko was well aware of his lineage. The kid was gonna be tall, handsome, and _built_. Just like his Uncle and late Father. She grinned at him, her eyes squinted almost shut.

"That's just the most precious thing I've heard today. How_EVER_…you gotta pass _my_ test to even make it to the finals. You think you're crafty enough to handle my Forest?"

Konohamaru thumbed his chest bravely. "Ha! I can handle anything you could possibly throw at me! I'm Uzumaki Naruto's rival! And I'm gonna-" he started. Anko rolled her eyes.

"-Be Hokage someday, yeah yeah," Anko finished for him. "Heard it all before, Kid, and from somebody blonder than you. Now scram," Anko dismissed with a negligent flick of her fingers. She turned back to where a shaky and bloody-nosed Aoba was just picking his stunned self up from the dirt, so she missed the thunderous scowl Konohamaru gave her for dismissing him so lightly.

"_Kage Bushin no jutsu!" _

Before Konohamaru could decide on a course of action however, Anko flickered and appeared behind him. Grabbing both Konohamaru and his clone by the scruffs of the neck she brought their heads together with a resounding smack. Poofing the clone and leaving Konohamaru clutching his head where a substantial knot was forming on his forehead.

"Better not be bringing that weak shit to my exam, Kid. Byyyeeee!" she tossed with casual wave over her shoulder.

She collected Aoba from where he was dazedly cleaning up the last of his nosebleed onto a white handkerchief from his pocket. Anko looped her arm through his and pulled him along with her as she headed up the street, her eyes curved happily as she hummed to herself. What a fun day this was turning out to be.

Aoba looked over his shoulder briefly to check on Konohamaru, who still stood in the road shaking his fist after them and yelling something about crazy adults. "Why…" Aoba started, not even sure what or why he was bothering to ask.

"Terrorizing them is the freaking high point of any day!" Anko said cheerily. "So you wanna buy me some lunch? Or just skip straight to it?"

Aoba gulped. Sorry that he'd lost his shades since he was certain his eyes must be bulging. Anko glanced up and then fished his shades from the pocket of her trench and handed them to him. He felt a lot less naked once he'd slipped them back onto his face. "Straight to…what?" he managed, the 'what' coming out as more of a squeak than he'd like.

She steered him toward a nearby restaurant that served Yakitori. Aoba wasn't surprised, Anko seemed to prefer all her food served on a skewer. She ignored him until after she'd ordered -for both of them he noticed- and then turned and looked at him expectantly when the cashier gave them their total. Aoba sighed inwardly and took out his wallet to pay.

"Well, you _know_ you're gonna tell me what's going on. You know it. I know it. I was just thinking we could get nourishment before we get naked and freaky," Anko stated bluntly, and loudly.

Aoba about choked on his spit as he dropped his wallet. Coins bounced over the tops of his sandals and he muttered apologies in the direction of the cashier and other patrons in line behind them. Anko just grinned in that slightly deranged way she had and turned to the Yakitori Cashier who just raised an eyebrow at her.

"We'll take it 'To Go'."

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_Thanks as always for reading, and an extra 'OMG THANK YOU!' to those of you who take the time to give me feedback and encouragement in the form of reviews. And a special acknowledgement to my primary motivator and huge Raidou (well, and Aoba too) fangirl, _DW3Girl. _Thanks for always listening to my plot rambles. ^_^_


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